How A Mother And Kids Turn Dandelions Into Skincare In Evansville

Evansville Family Turns Backyard Dandelions Into a DIY Skincare Project

Sometimes the best ideas start with something as simple as picking flowers in the yard.

That’s exactly what happened recently for Tricia Gerteisen, an Evansville-area mom and small farm owner who shared a fun family project that’s getting plenty of attention from locals online. What started as an afternoon of picking dandelions with her kids quickly turned into a new homemade experiment—making their own herbal salves.

A Family Day on the Farm

Tricia says she spent part of the afternoon with her kids, Jacie and Wyatt, gathering bright yellow dandelions from around their property. Meanwhile, other family members were busy tackling a different farm project tearing down an old chicken coop to renovate it for their new flock.

But those dandelions sparked another idea.

Since the family already grows a variety of herbs on their small farm, Tricia decided it might be time to try making homemade, multi-purpose salves using ingredients right from their land.

Turning Dandelions Into Something Useful

If you’re not familiar with salves, they’re simple balms made by infusing herbs or flowers into oil and then thickening the mixture often with beeswax. Many people use them for things like moisturizing dry skin, soothing minor scrapes, or just enjoying a natural alternative to store-bought products.

Dandelions, which pop up all over yards across Evansville every spring, have actually been used in herbal remedies for generations.

Asking the Community for Advice

Before diving in, Tricia turned to the local community to ask for advice from anyone who’s tried making salves before.

She had plenty of questions, including:

What carrier oils work best for infusing herbs?
Is beeswax the best ingredient for thickening the salve?
Do people add essential oils or extra herbs?
Is it better to slowly infuse the herbs over several weeks—or use a quicker heat method?

She also asked about storage, wondering whether glass jars or small tins work better for keeping the finished product fresh.

A Local DIY Trend

Projects like this are becoming more popular across the Evansville area as more people experiment with gardening, herbal remedies, and homemade products.

For Tricia and her family, it’s also a chance to spend time together, get the kids involved in farm life, and make something useful out of plants that many people usually consider weeds.

And if their first batch turns out well, those backyard dandelions might just become a regular ingredient on their farm. One thing’s for sure around Evansville, springtime weeds might be a lot more useful than we thought.