Making your own balms and salves is easy, cheap and super effective.

Balms can be made for pain,

bruising, cuts, scrapes, bites and stings with ingredients you probably already have in your pantry. Today we
will discuss making a balm for pain because this was the topic that inspired this thread.

The first ingredient of any balm, salve or ointment is your carrier agent. You can use oils and butters but the
cheapest and most effective, in my humble opinion, is 100% organic pure pork lard. Some of you may be
thinking "gross!" at this point but hear me out...pork lard is one of the, if not the, most absorbable products
for the skin. It penetrates the skin quickly and goes deep down into muscle tissue where it goes to work fast,
giving you quick effective relief. It leaves the skin moist and glowing and doubles as an intensse moisturizing
cream for your skin. If you need to make a balm fast and you don't have the pork lard you may use
shortening, such as Crisco or other brand, instead. 

Now let's discuss some helpful herbs to put in your pain balm, or should I say ANTI-pain balm! Here are a
few suggestions:

Clove- Yes, this is found in Tiger Balm and for good reason! Not only is clove a go-to remedy for toothache it
is also a great ingredient for your balm. Clove treats pain on a very deep level and also has a wonderful
spicy aroma.

Willow- Wonderful willow contains Salicin, the ingredient that brings us Aspirin. Willow is also a great anti-
inflammatory that works like aspirin but won't upset the stomach or thin the blood as aspirin will.

Meadowsweet- Also contains Salicin and is very helpful in treating muscular and joint pain.

Ginger- A helpful herb for pain, especially for Rheumatoid Arthritis, ginger is a great addition to balm. 

Valerian Root- Known mostly as an aid for insomnia and stress, valerian is extremely helpful for pain,
especially headaches, shingles and neuralgia.

Peppermint- Known for anasthetic relief, especially when applied to the temples for headache pain.
Peppermint oil is too strong to be applied directly to the skin so putting it in a balm is the best way to apply
peppermint to where it hurts!

Turmeric- A great herb for pain and inflammation.

Lavender- What isn't this herb good for? It helps to ease pain and can be used fresh, dried or in the
essential oil.

Eucalyptus- This herb is often added where Lavender and Peppermint are used to make them more
effective. Eucalyptus penetrates the skin quickly for fast relief.

Rosemary- This herb is famous for relieving headaches but it relieves other pain as well. This herb is easy to
grow or find at the grocery store and no pain balm should be without it!

These are a few ideas to get you started. It's always a good idea to start by using the herbs that you can
easily grow or harvest from your yard or close to home. So let's make some anti-pain balm!

First, melt about 1/2 to 1 cup of pure organic pork lard in a double boiler pan. This works best but if you only
have a regular saucepan you can use it, just keep the heat super low. Once your lard is melted add about 2
or 3 handfuls of your dried/fresh herb material. It is ok to put both fresh and dried herbal material into the
pot. Once you have all your ingredients in the pot, place the heat on low and simmer gently for about 2
hours. Remove the balm from heat and allow to cool overnight. The following day remelt the lard over low
heat until just melted. This is the time to add any essential oils you want to use. You don't want to add
essential oils until you are removing the product from heat, otherwise you just melt off the volatile oils. Now
you are ready to strain and pour the balm. Line a large pouring measuring cup or other container with a
double layer of cheesecloth or plain unbleached muslin. Carefully pour the balm from the pan into the
pouring container. Once strained check to see if you got all or most of the herbal material. If not, restrain.
Repeat until you've removed the herbal material. Pour into individual jars or into one big container and allow
to cool for several hours. Cover and use as needed for pain. Store in a cool, dry place.

If you are wondering about exact measuring of herbs and why I don't specify 1 tsp or 1 tbsp that is because I
practice the art of simples, or folk herbal medicine. We measure in "parts" and a part can be a teaspoon, a
handful or a gallon, depending on what and how much material you are working with. For balm, just try using
a half handful or 1 tbsp as a "part" and go from there. 

Now you know how easy it is to make your own balm. Please let me know how your balms turn out and what
you use them for! And please let me know if you have any questions!

Happy balm making!

 Pork Lard would not be the carrier agent of choice for vegans! They would be better off using a butter such
as mango or kokum butter or oil such as sunflower or sweet almond oil.
Another thing I forgot to mention is using Cayenne Pepper in your pain balm. I don't know how I forgot to
mention one of the best known herbs for pain. A little goes a long way and for some it can be very irritating
to the skin so I would start with a small amount of powdered Cayenne Pepper such as 1 - 2 tsp. to 1 cup of
your carrier agent.

the carrier agent I would recommend for vegans is vegetable shortening. It carries the medicine better than
oils and butters and penetrates deeply. It sounds strange to use shortening or lard but after you try it you'll
see how wonderfully it works!