Making a value-added product: from calendula flowers to massage oil

In our current economic system, it’s really hard to make a living as a farmer.  The majority of farmers (especially small farmers) rely on other forms of off-farm income, such as a "day job" or a spouse’s job.  Another way that farmers can make more money off of their crops is through creating value-added products.  Value-added products are essentially what they sound like: you take a product that you have and process it in some way that makes it worth more money.  Some examples of value-added products are cheese (from milk) and salsa (from tomatoes and other veggies).  The cheese and the salsa can be sold for a lot more than their raw materials.

Dancing Bear Farm sells mainly vegetables and seeds.  However, we do make a few value-added products.  This week I learned more about how DBF makes its hand and massage oil.

calendula flowers

The oil’s main ingredient is olive oil that has been infused with calendula flowers that have been grown on the farm.  You may remember some photos from earlier in my internship of us harvesting calendula flowers to be dried.  These dried calendula flowers are put in olive oil, where they are allowed to infuse for a few weeks.  Then, the oil is strained and cleaned (a process which takes an additional couple of weeks).

These dried flowers are ready to be put in oil.

Finished calendula oil is very yellow.

The finished calendula oil becomes massage oil simply by adding some vitamin E and essential oil (rosemary, ylang ylang, patchouli, and lavender).  The small amounts of the additional oils that we add come from a Portland business called the Essential Oil Company. 

We pour the calendula oil into small containers.

We add essential oils to the calendula oil for fragrance.

So, there you have it: turning calendula flowers into a value-added product of massage oil.

Here is some of the completed product.