The Story - aka Fumbling Towards Ecstacy

Before I tell my calendula story, I must tell where my love affair with scent began.  Like many American 4th graders in the 90s, Bath & Body Works really changed my world.  I would ask my mother to take me to Valley View Mall so I could sample all of the lotions, sprays and bubble baths.  The ever popular sun ripened raspberry was my favorite, but I was also enticed by the freesia, and the illusive “gingham,” collection.  What did gingham smell like? I could spend hours within the four walls of that store, dreaming of filling my wicker basket.  I was usually allowed to leave with one bottle of something - bringing it home and savoring the contents of  the plastic bottle with the trade mark scalloped edges.  

After Bath & Body Works it was St. Ives that really got me.  I have a specific olfactory memory of going to the store with my sisters and getting the St.Ives lotion with the navy blue writing and maroon details, a specific scent I can’t find anymore, try as I might. We then carried on to Best Buy and purchased a Sarah MacLachlan VHS (remember it was the 90’s).  I came home and put on the lotion and laid on the carpeted living room floor and watched the VHS.  This was a core memory of pure happiness.

It was two decades later that I was finally introduced to the healing powers of calendula.  My son Omer, like many babies, was born with very sensitive skin and in the first months of his life he experienced a horrible diaper rash.  He was my first child, and already life was so delicate, being born into the winter months, getting a terrible cough in the first weeks after being born accompanied by my own painful breastfeeding journey.  Babies remind us that indeed we do not have control - thank goodness!  I was sampling every diaper cream known to humans to try to give his red, bumpy skin some relief, and truly the only thing that worked was slathering him with a calendula diaper cream.  It was incredible, the rash was gone!  I thought, “what is this magical plant?”  Like the sun ripened raspberry of my youth - I was hooked.

When we began farming a few years later, I bought calendula seed and started experimenting.  The first year I was totally transfixed with the smell and the feel of the plant- the sticky, soft stems and leaves, the bright orange bloom, the sweet aroma coming not from the flower, but the leaves and stem. I wasn’t sure how I would use this powerful flower, but I spent seasons growing it and simply spending time with it, believing all the while in its healing powers. 

  Last year, 2023, was the first year I made my own calendula oil from the flowers I grew here at the farm.   I grew a 100ft bed containing 300 calendula plants, dried them and eventually infused them with organic olive oil.   I experimented by adding essential oils to get the right scent, plus jojoba oil for extra moisturizing effects and vitamin E, bottled them up and gave them out to twenty of my closest friends.  I wanted those close to me to have a chance to spend some time with the oil, use it, and share back.  My sister Amy said she puts the oil on her neck and chest when it is red or irritated, another friend said a rash on her hip was eliminated after using the oil, others simply enjoyed the scent and soothing nature of the golden oil.  Any simple google search will tell you that calendula reduces inflammation (redness in skin), that it moisturizes, can be a stress reliever, and is especially good for sensitive skin.  For myself, I use it every day, on my face and body as a soothing, moisturizing balm. 

I’ve learned a lot since my love of scent, and moisturizer began thirty years ago.  Using organic products, avoiding plastic and growing the calendula myself are important to me, and make the oil what it is.

This year I will sell the oil at a discounted price of $22.  I know there are many companies selling face oils at upwards of $50, and the ones made sustainably from pure products on farms are probably worth that. But, for me, I am still learning. I’m not sure if the glass bottles I purchased in bulk are the exact right container, I don’t really have a logo yet, and the scent is not perfectly set in stone.  I’d like to break even on supplies, and pay myself for some of the time and care it takes to create.  I am still growing, and this is a fluid process. 

I hope you enjoy this product.  I hope you are soothed by the scent and it brings you happy olfactory memories.  I hope it makes you feel beautiful and brings out your natural glow.  We all need some special potions don’t we?