St John’s Wort Oil in New Mexico
March 26, 2008
St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perfolatum) is one of my favorite plants. I love its buttery yellow flowers and the way they magically produce a deep red ruby juice when crushed. I love how it pops up in unexpected places like craggy, dry slopes where one would think nothing could grow. And when it is infused in olive oil it makes one of the prettiest oils we offer at sunstoneherbs.com.
I’ve used this oil in the past to relieve pain from shingles (in a former life I worked 50 - 60 stressful hours per week as an IT project manager for a financial services company in NYC), but recently, I’ve been dipping into our stock for a new purpose.
As readers of this blog may know, we recently moved our homestead from upstate New York to New Mexico where the sun is more intense than I had previously imagined. I’ve gotten very good at wearing an enormous visor to protect my face, but occasionally I’ll run out to hay the goats without it, and then after 15 minutes (often more) of playing with them, I’ll end up with a patchy mild sunburn or, sometimes, a blotchy wind burn. Not pretty, uncomfortable, and not good for my skin. Gently applying a little bit of St J’s oil, however, relieves the dryness and soothes the burn until the next time I forget to wear my hat. -Tree





