Texas Bee Balm Salve

The wildflowers of Texas cycle through beautiful seasonal colors. First, the sweet-smelling yellow buds of agarita briefly bloom. The next blush is the famous blue & red flowers of bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush. Up next are the gold & black prairie coneflowers and purple & magenta bee balm. After the bee balm blossoms, blue bells and snow on the mountains button up the season. The parade of wildflowers is one of my favorite things about Central Texas. Bee Balm goes by many names: Horsemint, wild oregano, wild bergamot, and monarda fistulosa. They are an alien and fantastical flower. The colors range from the softest whisper of pink to a deep magenta. A dress made out of this color would shock all in attendance at your high school reunion. The green stem and leaves are vibrant. The hairy little stamen reaching out for any hungry pollinator. These are sacred geometrical wonders, each with three blossoms stacked like a layer cake. Never planted by human hands, bee balm has me climbing the steep inclines of my mind, attempting to understand this. How can something so magical and strange offer itself up so freely? What empowered bee balm to have the audacity to evolve into such a fantastical shape? I long for that confidence. I wildcrafted this beautiful bee balm from our neighborhood which is gratefully surrounded by greenbelt. On either side of us there are trails that lead to other neighborhoods. Like hobbitses, we traipsed through various muddy forests to find these flowers. We were careful to not overharvest from any one area, as follows the economics of wildcrafting. We only took what we needed and left most for the bees. Then I dried the blossoms, infused them into organic olive oil and set it oil into a luscious healing salve. The resulting Bee Balm Salve is a hyper local salve that is soothing for cuts, scrapes, rashes, bug bites and all the skin maladies of summertime. Nature shares with us exactly what we need and when we need it. Like all things wildcrafted and limited, grab one fast because once it’s gone, it won't bee back until next year!