This year we had some excitement starting out a SALVE MAKING BUSINESS! Plant medicine is a passion shared by many at The Common Unity Project, and it has felt wonderful to dive into that and get to share it with the rest of the world, especially our wider Hazelton community.
The salves are all made from local foraged and grown herbs and pine sap (which also acts as a natural preservative!). We use the beautiful beeswax from bees we had at our place a few years ago…sadly, the bees died (we hope to get more bees once more of our infrastructure is set up). And we use coconut and olive oil…I hope to one day learn to hunt and to be able to experiment with using animal grease in the salves.
The salves are magical witch creams that offer beauty and self-care. Personally, I love to come up with an intention for a salve creation, and lean into which herbs around me would fulfill this purpose. My roster of herbs I am acquainted with continues to grow, and when it is time for it to expand the next herb ready to join draws me towards it and I come to learn what it offers, and include it in some salves.
I was inspired to start making salves because of my own experience with eczema. I grew up with eczema as a kid, and last winter it made a reappearance all over my body. What saved me was chickweed cream! Which I was very excited about, because we are lucky enough to have chickweed growing abundantly all over our garden (Mother Earth does provide what’s needed!). I like to believe that my skin has long been a guide for me in life…it was the first part of me to reject harsh chemical products and it made it so that I could only use completely natural products on my body. I feel like this was the first part of my being to get loud in seeking what is natural…which is now a theme for how I direct myself in life, and one that led me to live in an off-grid intentional community in the woods!
Sweetgum, Meesh and I have all made salves, and with Lola doing a kick-butt job coordinating the Hazelton Farmer’s Market all summer, it was a lot of fun sharing what we created and getting to see folks from the community each week at the market. It feels wonderful to get reviews now from people who tried the salves this market season, and who really feel the magic of the salves, and to know that the salves are bringing something to people’s lives. I’m glad they are appreciated, and it encourages me to see the cycle of love move through the salves…all the way from plant harvest to beautiful people putting the salves on their bodies to the profits fueling a community lifestyle of sustainability and global compassion at TCUP.
Check out some of the salves we’ve created here: https://thecommonunityproject.com/skinsalves/
The Common Unity Project 
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