Paul and Bid were up at Hornby for the May long weekend, and in addition to joining us for one of James’s amazing Friday Feasts, we met them on Hornby on Sunday for a lovely early dinner at The Seabreeze Lodge, where Bid and Paul honeymooned more than forty years ago!

It was lovely to see my sister and brother-in-law looking so relaxed and happy, which is their usual state when they’re on Hornby, notwithstanding the fact that they spent every minute whipping their cabin into shape for the coming summer season.

One of Paul’s tasks was trimming the various trees and shrubs around their lovely cabin, and he brought the product of some of his labour: a huge bounty of eucalyptus leaves.

Since I’m running low on my lotion bars, I figured I’d use the leaves–along with some of my fresh rosemary–to create a refreshing-smelling body butter.

The bonus is that eucalyptus has insect-repelling qualities–good news for my ankles, which are already exhibiting little red bug bites from no-see-ums (at least that’s what I THINK has been biting me).

I also decided to add tea-tree oil and vitamin E because they’re both good for skin.

I used a combination of oils and butters: olive oil, coconut oil, and cacao butter. I also added a bit of beeswax simply to give the lotion some structure.

Anyway, after doing a bit of research, I came up with this recipe…

Eucalyptus-Rosemary Body Butter

• 2 ounces (by weight) crushed eucalyptus leaves (this is a LOT of leaves)
• a handful of chopped fresh rosemary
• 2 cups olive oil
• 2 cups refined coconut oil (I used refined because it doesn’t smell like coconut)
• 1 cup cacao butter nibs
• 4 ounces (by weight) beeswax

Combine above ingredients in the Instant Pot and set to “Slow Cook” for four hours.

Strain into two pint-sized mason jars.

Add to each jar:

• 30 drops tea-tree oil
• 10 vitamin E capsules

Stir well and refrigerate until set.

I was hoping the result would smell more strongly of eucalyptus, but, if anything, it smells very slightly of chocolate because of the cacao butter and of tea-tree oil for obvious reasons.

And, like most of my infused body lotions/bars/butters, this stuff turned out light green. On the plus size, the colour doesn’t actually transfer to your skin.

Anyway, it’s a lovely rich body butter that contains only things that are super good for your skin…and the two jars should get me through the summer!