Every year I make a large batch of St. Johns Wort oil.  The previous few years were not remarkable as the weather did not cooperate, plus finding a reasonable crop to wild craft was somewhat tricky as many of my usual places were not blooming.  This year however, did not disappoint. It was a bit later due to the cool spring but that was fine with me as this year so far has had quite a few distractions for some reason…  So I was late getting out there.  St. Johns Wort blooms in only a few precious weeks every summer.

St. John’s Wort
Photographed by Ryan Hodnett (CC BY SA 4.0)

The flowers were lush with that juicy wine coloured liquid that seeps out of the beautiful yellow petals.  I’ve been making this oil for over 25 years, harvesting hundreds of pounds of  the plant and I still have people argue incorrectly that the flower is red when it is in fact an exotic yellow.

2020’s batch of St. John’s Wort

I also considered raising the price as a form of danger pay for my harvesting efforts.  Let’s see, I endured extreme heat and blazing sun (there wasn’t even one hospitably cool day during the short harvest window), copious amounts of poison ivy (good thing I learned to identify it as a kid), a few bee stings, (haven’t had any for many years so a bit exhilarating) and a standoff with a rattlesnake (we agreed to disagree and I backed out graciously from it’s domain).

I’m happy to report that the only long term effect was more of a tan so no price increase for now.  And, no, much to the pleadings  of others to wear long pants and sensible closed shoes, I will still be outstanding in my field, wild crafting in shorts and sandals next year.

Enjoy!

Sandy

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