Rosemary Herb and Gardener's Hand Salve.

I love rosemary.  It is a wonderful plant medicinally. The ancient civilization around the Mediterranean made wreaths out of rosemary for scholars and believed smelling the herb helped mental clarity. There is a legend of rosemary getting it's little blue flowers from Mary the Mother of Jesus. According to this story Mary used a rosemary bush to lay her blue robe on during the birth of Jesus and the plant forever had made blue flowers the color of her robe in remembrance of the great event.

The plant grows well here in Arizona and drought and heat resistant.
I love to use rosemary infused oil for hand salve and hair and scalp oil.  With any recipe I add herb to the oil and allow for time to let the infusing process to occur.  Fresh Rosemary like many herbs in oil looks pretty gross, I am always careful to remove fresh herbs within two weeks of infusment.  Some people prefer dried herbs for this reason.  Dried rosemary is a mess so I process my Rosemary by washing patting or spinning it dry and cleaning all the little leaves off the stems.  I dry herbs by hanging and curing but with rosemary I use a little paper bag and in our dry climate here they dry out in couple of days. 

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378874111007963Then I store the rosemary in a container for later use.  Fresh or dried Rosemary can be used for this recipe. When it comes time to use it in salves or soaps I can grind it up fine to powder in my coffee grinder or use it as is for a scrub.

For the Rosemary Gardener's Salve you will need:

1 cup - rosemary infused carrier oil  (I use coconut oil)
1.5 oz - of Bee's Wax this about 3 Tbsp
2 shot glasses of Almond Oil- (optional)
3 Tbsp Shea Butter
2 Tbsp Cocoa Butter - Oil I buy my oils and butters in bulk HERE
20 drops - Essential Oil of Rosemary
1 Tbsp - Vitamin E oil

Pyrex Big Measuring cup
A strainer - cheese cloth
Some kind of stirring utensil.
Sterilized Containers- Tins, Jars must have lids

Strain off your herbs from oil and discard the herbs. Combine the infused oil, bee's wax and butters into the Pyrex measuring cup.
I use a microwave in 10 second intervals to melt my oils and bee's wax down but you can use a double boiler or place your pyrex measuring cup in a big pot of 3 inches of water and watch it carefully during the heating process.  You don't want water splashing up into the oil and wax mixture.
After all the solids melt to liquid I carefully remove the pyrex cup and stir in the essential oils and Vitamin E Oil.  Now I pour in the mixture into my sterilized tins and containers. Allow to cool with- out the lids to avoid condensation moisture from collecting.   Label and use.  This salve is slightly green and will smell wonderful.  I use it on my hands after washing dishes but it works great after a bath or showers on elbows and heels.  The little tins can be recycled and few tins of salves and soaps make a great Christmas Basket.

Here's a video I made of this process with infused Calendula oil.