Harvesting bog myrtle
Bog myrtle is a shrub which grows here in the Scottish Highlands, although it grows in other places as well. You tend to find it around boggy ground. It is quite a woody, shrubby plant and usually grows to around two or three feet high.
Soon it will be time for me to start harvesting it. I do this in early April gathering both the young leaves and the catkins. I use both because they contain resin, although there is a higher percentage of resin in the catkins. I harvest the bog myrtle fairly close to where my croft is. When I gather it, I am careful not to take too much from one place. I will never strip a whole plant. Instead I move around and take small amounts from different plants in the area. The following year I will harvest in a different spot so the plants have time to regenerate themselves. It is a lovely plant to work with. The resin has a wonderful scent and if you have ever smelled bog myrtle you will know how distinctive it is. It smells beautiful when it is fresh and it is just as aromatic once it has been dried.
Drying the botanicals
After harvesting, the leaves and catkins are dried just as we do with all our botanicals.Everything has to be dried before it can be used in the products. If fresh botanicals are used there is a risk of mould developing. Drying also means I can gather enough during the season and keep using it throughout the year.Once the bog myrtle is fully dried I can then use it for infusions and other preparations.
Using bog myrtle in the products
Bog myrtle is known here in Scotland for being a natural midgy repellent.I use it in our Highland Heather, Juniper & Myrtle Soap, but it is used even more in our midgy salve, which is a standalone product called “ Bog Off Bug ”. The name came from something we used to say at school. If you told someone to “bog off “ it meant go away. So “Bog Off Bug” seemed quite fitting, with the bug being the midgy. The name is also trademarked.
For the salve I infuse the dried leaves and catkins in organic sunflower oil for six to eight weeks. After that the oil is strained and then made into the salve with beeswax.The finished salve goes into small pots ready to be used or taken out and about. I originally designed it as something to soothe irritated skin after midgy bites. For that reason it also contains lavender and lemon myrtle essential oils, both of which are calming and help stop the bites from itching.It has turned out to be effective in two ways. It helps calm the irritation from bites and it is also very good at helping to keep the infamous Scottish midgy at bay.
