> Feed: NutritionFacts.org > Title: Contaminants Found in 90% of Herbal Supplements Tested > Author: Michael Greger M.D. FACLM > Date: Thu, 04 Jun 2020 02:00:08 -1000 The majority of dietary supplement facilities tested were found noncompliant with good manufacturing practices guidelines. "The U.S. public is not well protected[1]" by current dietary supplement recommendations, an issue I explore in my video Dangers of Dietary Supplement Deregulation[2]. Sometimes, there is too little of whatever's supposed to be in the bottle, and other times, there's too much, as I discussed in my video Black Raspberry Supplements Put to the Test[3]. In one case, as you can see at 0:20 in my video[2], hundreds of people suffered[4] from acute selenium toxicity, thanks to an "employee error at one of the ingredient suppliers. Months later, many continued to suffer. Had the company been following good manufacturing practices, such as testing their ingredients, this may not have happened. In 2007, the FDA urged[5] companies to adhere to such guidelines, but seven years later, the majority of dietary supplement facilities remained noncompliant with current good manufacturing practices guidelines. What are the consequences of this ineffective regulation of dietary supplements? Fifty-thousand Americans are harmed[6] every year. Of course, prescription drugs don't just harm; they actually kill[7] 100,000 Americans every year--and that's just in hospitals. Drugs prescribed by doctors outside of hospital settings may kill[8] another 200,000 people every year, but that doesn't make it any less tragic for the thousands sickened[6] by supplements. Sometimes the supplements may contain[9] drugs. Not only does a substantial proportion of dietary supplements have quality problems, the "FDA has identified hundreds of dietary supplements...that have been adulterated with prescription medications" or, even worse, designer drugs that haven't been tested[10]--like tweaked Viagra compounds. About half of the most serious drug recalls in the U.S. aren't for drugs but for supplements, yet two-thirds of recalled supplements were still found[11] on store shelves six months later. There is[12] also inadvertent contamination with potentially hazardous contaminants, such as heavy metals and pesticides in 90 percent of herbal supplements tested, as you can see at 2:09 in my video[2]. Mycotoxins, potentially carcinogenic fungal toxins like aflatoxin, were found[13] in 96 percent of herbal supplements. Milk thistle supplements were the worst, with most having more than a dozen different mycotoxins. It's thought that since the plant is harvested specifically when it's wet, it can get moldy easily. Many people take milk thistle to support their livers yet may end up getting exposed to immunotoxic, genotoxic, and hepatotoxic--meaning liver toxic--contaminants. How is this even legal? In fact, it wasn't legal until 1994 with the passage of the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act. Prior to that, supplements were regulated like food additives so you had to show they were safe before they were brought to market--but not anymore. Most people are unaware that supplements no longer have to be approved[14] by the government or that supplement ads don't have to be vetted. "This misunderstanding may provide some patients with a false sense of security regarding the safety and efficacy of these products." This deregulation led[1] to an explosion in dietary supplements from around 4,000 when the law went into effect to more than 90,000 different supplements now on the market, each of which is all presumed innocent until proven guilty, presumed[15] safe until a supplement hurts enough people. "In other words, consumers must suffer harm...before the FDA begins[16] the slow process toward restricting [a] product from the market." Take ephedra, for example. Hundreds of poison control center complaints started back in 1999, increasing to thousands and including reports of strokes, seizures, and deaths. Yet the FDA didn't pull it off store shelves for seven years, thanks to millions of dollars from the industry spent on lobbying. What did the companies have to say for themselves? Metabolife swore that it had never received a single report of a single adverse effect from any customer. "According to the company, Metabolife had a 'claims-free history'" when in fact it had gotten 14,000 complaints from customers, but covered them up. Basically, "dietary supplement manufacturers have no realistic accountability for the safety of their products," and the industry trade organizations have been accused[17] of responding to legitimate concerns with "bluster and denial." Yes, but are these criticisms of dietary supplements just a Big Pharma conspiracy to maintain its monopoly? No. Big Pharma loves dietary supplements because Big Pharma owns[1] dietary supplement companies to dip into the tens of billions in annual sales. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Isn't the supplement issue insane? For more, check out: * Black Raspberry Supplements Put to the Test[3] * Shark Cartilage Supplements Put to the Test to Cure Cancer[18] * Lead in Calcium Supplements[19] * Are Melatonin Supplements Safe?[20] * Heavy Metals in Protein Powder Supplements[21] * Some Dietary Supplements May Be More Than a Waste of Money[22] * Do Vitamin C Supplements Prevent Colds but Cause Kidney Stones?[23] More than a hundred thousand people are killed every year by pharmaceuticals? Learn more: * Why Prevention Is Worth a Ton of Cure[24] * How Doctors Responded to Being Named a Leading Killer[25] * Does an Apple a Day Really Keep the Doctor Away?[26] In health, Michael Greger, M.D. PS: If you haven't yet, you can subscribe to my free videos here[27] and watch my live presentations: * 2019: Evidence-Based Weight Loss[28] * 2016: How Not To Die: The Role of Diet in Preventing, Arresting, and Reversing Our Top 15 Killers[29] * 2015: Food as Medicine: Preventing and Treating the Most Dreaded Diseases with Diet[30] * 2014: From Table to Able: Combating Disabling Diseases with Food[31] * 2013: More Than an Apple a Day[32] * 2012: Uprooting the Leading Causes of Death[33] Links:
> Feed: The Permaculture Research Institute > Title: How to Use Your Fresh Culinary Herbs > Author: Jonathon Engels > Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2020 22:00:53 -1000 I'm a huge fan of the herb garden right outside the kitchen door, as well as dotting herbs throughout vegetable beds. Aside from these plants being great companion plants for pest deterrence and pollination, many are perennial (rosemary, sage, oregano) and/or fantastic self-seeders (dill, cilantro). They provide wonderful flashes of colour and wafts of aroma.
> Feed: The Druid's Garden > Title: Herbs for Visionary Work at the Winter Solstice > Author: Dana > Date: Sun, 20 Dec 2020 03:30:50 -1000 Plants are our medicine, our teachers, our friends, and help us connect deeply to spirit in a wide variety of ways including through spiritual work. Long before recorded history, our ancient ancestors used plants of all kinds. ?tzi, the ancient ancestor who was preserved in ice and who lived between 3400 and 3100 BCE, was found with multiple kinds of plants and mushrooms, including birch polypore (a medicinal mushroom) and the tinder fungus, a mushroom often used for transporting coals starting fires. I love plants, and I love the ancestral connections and assistance that they can provide. In more recent history, we can look to a variety of cultures that use plants in ways that help alter or expand consciousness. What better time to do some deep visionary work than at the winter solstice, when the world is plunged in darkness[1]? It is in these dark times that we can look deeply within, work with the spirits that guide us, and have insights that help us more deeply understand the world and our place in it. It is in this darkness that we can go for visionary walks (including in the long and dark nights), do spirit journeying, and engage in other forms of divination or communion with the living earth. What are visionary herbs? Visionary herbs are those that can help us with deep spirit journeying, deep meditations, and the kinds of self-expression that lead to deeper awareness. There are at least two categories of visionary herbs. One category is what are traditionally called the teacher plants, the ones that cause radical shifts in consciousness and awareness. These are the plants with the strongest effects and include a variety of psychedelic substances including strong herbs and mushrooms. While these plants were once quite illegal (at least here in the states), laws in the last few years have really become laxer and allowed these plants to be more accessible. Im not writing about this group of plants today, but there are certainly books and resources out there about them if you want to learn more. The visionary herbs Im talking about today are milder, legal herbs that can help us shift our consciousness and vision, but that are less potent. To me, the difference between the two is that the teacher plants will take you on a journey whether or not you want it and requires pretty much nothing on your partonce you take teacher plants, you are on the journey of whatever kind it is for the duration. The visionary herbs Im discussing today are milder and are more like aids or companions. Many of these visionary herbs have spiritual and mental effects that may make you more open, aware, or attuned at the moment, and are tied to helping bring the subconscious and intuitive sides forward. The herbs I will share about today come from both teachings given to me as well as from my own experiences and connections with nature. Some of these herbs require you to build a relationship with them, while others will simply open the doors for you regardless of how long you have been acquainted. All herbs for any spiritual purpose work better when you have a relationship with that herb. Think about it like thisyou meet someone, and you have a great conversation over a cup of tea. You think to yourself, wow, this person could be a great friend to me! That initial experience is wonderful. Ten years later, you are sitting with your long-term friend and have that same cup of tea. The nuance and interaction is much richeryou can give each other just a look, or say a single word, and there is much more meaning. Youve created a shared history together, and that history connects you on a much deeper level. This is why we build relationships with these visionary plants over timethe longer you have a relationship with a plant species (or even more ideally, the same lineage of plant or same plant), the depth of what you can do together grows. When I say the same lineage of plant, what I mean by that is either the same plant from season to season (perennial plants) or the daughter and grandaughter plants born from the seed of your first plant. These dont have to just be plants you grow, but can be plants that you visit regularly. Building plant relationships takes time, but it is time well spent. Visionary Herbs for Awareness, True Sight, Memory, and Relaxation So many different plants can go on this list, but for our purposes today, Im going to share two plants from four different categories that I find are useful for visionary work. You can agree or disagree, and in the comments, Id love to hear your suggestions for plants that you have used. I will also say that there are a lot of plants that *could* go on this list, but Im only offering those that I have direct experience with over a period of years. Herbs that Open up Awareness: Mugwort and Ghost Pipe Our first set of herbs are those that open up our awareness and give us new perspectives and vision. Perhaps we need to see things from a new angle, rethink patterns of behavior and belief that have caused us difficulty, or do shadow work within ourselves. My favorite two herbs in this category are mugwort and Indian ghost pipe. Mugwort: Artemesia vulgaris [image 3][3] Mugwort from the Plant Spirit Oracle (www.plantspiritoracle.com) Long used as a dreaming herb and smoke cleansing herb, mugwort helps with any kind of meditative or subconscious work. Within both psychology and the occult traditions, there is an acknowledgment of the multiple selves within us. One interpretation is that we have a rational self, that self that is in our heads and that typically we are projecting when we are out and about in the world. This is the thinker, the doubter, the one that can hold a career or do math. The second self we have is our intuitive self, the self beneath the layers of rationality (and there are many of those layers), perhaps the one that comes out during meditation, spiritual work, and other deep practices. This is the self that is where our intuition resides and is a bridge to the many subconscious and unconscious realms within us. The third self is the spirit self, the piece of us that transcends death and that reincarnates, the self that is connected to everything else. Connecting with this self and other spiritual powers is one of the goals of most spiritual traditions and practices. I believe that channeling the awen through bardic arts or doing journey work are ways to help the intuitive self bridge to the spirit. This long explanation is to say that mugwort is very, very good at helping us with this kind of work. Mugwort not only helps us have more vivid, intense, and lucid dreaming but also connects with those deeper selves, which leads to a more fruitful understanding of ourselves, our world, and our connections to all living things. Indian Ghost Pipe: Monotropa uniflora [image 5][5] Ghost Pipe from the Plant Spirit Oracle While mugwort helps bridge to the deeper selves, Ghost Pipe is particularly good for working with the rational self. The rational self is the product of a lot of outside influences: peoples external pressures about how we should behave, what we should do, what we should say, etc. Sometimes, we end up living to the expectations of others rather than following our true path. Ghost pipe is very good at helping us slog through those layers and get to the heart of the issues at hand. Thus, ghost pipe offers us distance, perspective, and new understandings. The best way I can describe this is with a metaphor of the forest and the trees. We live our lives on the ground, in the middle of the forest. Some of us might be walking a clear path in that forest, and others might be wandering (by choice or not). Ghost pipe helps temporarily lift us out of the forest and lets us see the broader pictureit helps us expand our perspective. I will note that due to overharvesting, Indian Ghost Pipe should be used *ONLY* as a floral essence. Herbs that Aid with Seeing Clearly: Eyebright and Blue Vervain Another thing that we need to do is see clearly. Perhaps our own past experiences cloud our judgment. Perhaps our past traumas and experiences prevent us from being able to clearly see what is before us. Perhaps ongoing things in the world have put us in an emotional place and we need to break free. Eyebright. Euphraise Officinale, Euphrasia spp. Sometimes, the magic is in the name of the plant itself, and that is certainly the case with Eyebright. On the physical level, eyebright helps strengthen the sight and the eyes, and many people take it as a healing herb for this reason. But this same medicinal action happens on the level of our spirit, where work with eyebright helps us to see true. We can see to the heart of things, to the heart of issues, and that true sight offers us new ways of being, healing, and inhabiting the world. Blue Vervain. Verbena Hastada [image 7][7] Blue Vervain from the Plant Spirit Oracle Blue vervain is a visionary herb that does essentially two things. The first thing it does is allow us to let go of those things we cling to too tightly (e.g. things have to be a certain way, maybe a bit of OCD we are harboring) and instead, it allows us to go with the flow. It thus connects us with that deeper, intuitive self by giving the rational self a bit of ease and relaxation. Blue vervain works over time, so its particularly good to start taking it in some form and keep taking it for a while to get it to work for you in this way. Once we are able to let go of the things we cling to, we are offered new visions and ways forward. The second way Blue Vervain works is by putting us more in touch with our emotional side. Blue vervain always lives by waterit understands how to help us navigate our difficult emotions and offers vision beyond them. Herbs that Sharpen the Mind and bring Focus: Lavender and Rosemary Sharpening our mind and our focus is something that we can all benefit from. These herbs seem even more critical after nearly a year of long-term trauma from the global pandemic when many are now suffering the effects of overload, burnout, and more. Lavender. Lavendula Spp. Lavender is a herb that helps bring focus and clarity. It has a very gentle action that promotes the body to relax while the mind focuses. This is an excellent combination for meditation and spirit journeyingbringing the mind into a place where its not going to wander while you are attempting your visioning work, while also bringing the body into a place of calm and tranquility. Other herbs do this well too (Lemon balm is another solid choice), but I think lavender is particularly good at bridging that mind-body connection that is necessary for powerful spirit work to take place. Rosemary. Rosmarinus Officinalis. [image 9][9] Rosemary from the Plant Spirit Oracle Rosemary has long been associated with memory and remembrance[10]. If you are doing memory work of any kind, Rosemary is an excellent ally (including ancestor work, as linked above). Rosemary strengthens our memory and encourages us to use our memories in new ways, shaping them, and storing them. Rosemary is particularly good for memory mansion work, using method of loci[11] techniques that have been handed down by masters from the ages. If there is a memory you want strongly to retain or a memory you want to bring back, rosemary is your guide. Herbs that relax the Body and Release Tension: Kava Kava and Passionflower Our final set of herbs can help foster a deeper sense of relaxation and allow us to go more deeply into sacred dreaming[12], meditation[13], or simply relax more fully. Kava Kava: Piper methysticum. Kava Kava is the only herb on my list that doesnt grow in the US East coast, but I wanted to include it because there is nothing else like itand because you can ethically source it from small farms effectively in Hawaii, thus supporting sustainable farming practices. Kava Kava is a deeply relaxing herb, working on both the mind and the body. When you take kava in either tincture or tea form, it somewhat numbs the lips briefly. That same effect is later passed onto the bodynot so much numbing, but taking away pains, deeply relaxing the muscles, and putting you into a relaxed state. I like to use Kava Kava as part of my spiritual practice when Ive had a long day and that day has really gotten into my bodyI am carrying the worries of my day or my life in my physical body. This means that I get literal aches and heaviness, and that makes it difficult to do spiritual work. Kava helps me relax into myself and allows the spiritual work to flow. (If you take a lot of kava, you will be impaired at driving, so please keep this in mind). Passionflower: Passiflora incarnata Passionflower is an outstanding nervine plant that helps our nervous system relax and thus, our bodies relax. Passionflower is one of many nervines, but I find it particularly good for relaxation when the goal is spiritual work. Part of it, perhaps, is that it is such an otherwordly flowerlooking like the full moon on an enchanted evening. But also, each different nervine has their own unique qualitiesand passionflower helps one get into that place of calm so that the world of spirit can flow. In a temperate climate, you can grow it yourself by keeping it as a vine in your home during the winter and then letting it grow wildly during the summer, offering it trellising. Cut it back when the frost comes and bring it in for the winter months. After a few years, your vine will produce many flowers and later fruits each yearwhich are an absolute delight! Obtaining visionary herbs Obviously, if you are going to use any of these herbs, you have to figure out the best way to obtain them. If you can grow them or harvest them yourself, this is probably the best thing you can do because it helps establish a deep relationship. I would pick one or two herbs that you really want to work with and cultivate themeven a pot on a windowsill can produce a beautiful rosemary or lavender plant! The alternative is to try to get them from an ethical, organic grower. You dont want conventional (read chemically sprayed) herbs for any of your visionary work. The chemicals themselves can harm the spirit of the plant. These plants are used to working with humans as friends and guides, and the spraying of poison on them really damages that relationship. So please, please be careful about ethical sourcing and chemical-free plants when you are sourcing herbs. I would also be very careful of the wild harvest[14] label, particularly for at-risk plants like kava or ghost pipe. Wildharvested is often not sustainably harvested, so you want to be careful. Places that are good for sourcing herbs are small farms like Black Locust Gardens[15] or larger, ethical companies like Mountain Rose Herbs[16]. Taking visionary Herbs You have a number of options for working with and taking visionary herbs. Ill list the options, and which herbs might be best for each option. All of the herbs Ive listed are safe and non-toxic, so you can do a lot with them. [image 18][18] Rosemary smudge Smudges and smoking blends: Mugwort is commonly used in smoking blends and smoke clearing sticks[19] (smudge sticks). Lavender and rosemary also work great in smudge sticks or incense blends. Here, the idea is that you burn the plants and inhale the smokeeither in the air around you (with incense/smudges) or by smoking it in a sacred way. For smoking, a little bit goes a long way! Teas. Many of the plants on this list make excellent teas: mugwort (brewed briefly, too long and it gets bitter), rosemary, lavender, kava kava, and passionflower are all good choices. Blue vervain is a very bitter herb, so I suggest using it as a tincture instead. Infused oils. Any of these herbs are great as an infused oil, which you can then rub on your body or temples for spiritual work. See my instructions for how to create an infused oil here[20]. Tinctures. Any of the herbs can be made into a tincture with a long shelf life. Alcohol, vinegar, or glycerine make good menstrua for making a spiritual tincture. Alcohol and vinegar have an indefinite shelf life while glycerin lasts about a year. The tincture is easy to make and I have instructions here[21]. Flower Essence. This is the only way I recommend using Indian Ghost pipe because of serious challenges with overharvesting this plant in recent years. To make a flower essence, youll have to seek out the plant when it is in bloom (in my region, thats usually late June to late August) and do a simple flower essence. Here are instructions[22]. Conclusion I hope this post has offered you some new tools for workingand embracingthe darkness during the period of weeks before and after the Winter Solstice. There is something extremely magical about this time that allows us to dig in deeply with ourselves and do important work. Blessings of the Winter Solstice! Links:
> Feed: Wise Woman Weblog > Title: Lusty Herbs for Valentines > Author: wisewoman@herbshealing.com (Susun S Weed) > Date: Fri, 12 Feb 2021 07:36:00 -1000 Lusty Herbs for Valentines [image 2: Rose-petal-honey][2]Herbal aphrodisiacs abound, as Mother Nature is passionately fond of love and fecundity. In the Wise Woman Tradition, we nourish vibrant health, rather than seeking out stimulants, even when it comes to sex. Thus my favorite lovers herbs are not damiana or cannabis, but oatstraw and seaweed, burdock and roses, and, of course, chocolate. Oatstraw is the leaves of the plant that produces oats for oatmeal. Brewed up as an infusion, using a full ounce by weight in a quart jar filled to the top with boiling water and steeped for at least four hours, oatstraw is one of the world's premier interest and performance enhancers. A quart a day frees up bound testosterone, sending sexual interest soaring. It encourages "the most incredible slippery slime!" exclaimed one crone, "and I thought I was all dried up down there." Oatstraw improves blood flow, heightening sensations; it strengthens the heart, making it easier to frolic; and it calms the nervous system, bringing a deeper calm and greater fulfillment to the culmination. Seaweeds, especially the many varieties of kelp, live in the home of Venus, and they make making love a lot more fun. The swells of the ocean, and its salty taste, are erotic and enticing. Kelps concentrate ocean minerals, much needed by the endocrine glands and sexual organs. Make seaweed a regular part of your diet and your skin will be touchable, your hair will gleam, your eyes will shine, and you may find yourself more graceful than ever in bed. Wakame, kombu, sea palm, and bull whip kelps are far better than dulse or nori. And not just a sprinkle. For orgasms that curl your toes you need to eat lots. Burdock root is the gentle giant of herbs. Digging one out of the ground is a lot like making love to a woman who just can't get enough of you.Whitefeather Art The root goes down and down and down, holding fast and drawing you into her space, her life, her home. For those who want to use their time spooning instead of digging, burdock root is for sale in many health food stores as the vegetable gobo or as a dried herb.Eaten or brewed as a strong infusion, using two ounces of root in a quart of boiling water and steeping for at least eight hours, burdock root is unequaled for getting the juices flowing. Regular use improves lymphatic flow, sweetening your body odor, nourishes the oil glands, giving your skin and hair a healthy glow, and opens deep, powerful energy channels in your root chakra. Roses are the flower of love for very good reason, they are rich in hormonal precursors. If even the smell of a rose can heighten sexual interest, just imagine what eating rose petal honey or drinking rose petal tea can do. When the roses bloom, drop their petals into a wide-mouth jar and pour honey over them. The longer it sits, the more aromatic it will be, but this honey is ready to use almost immediately if you can't wait. Be cautious about roses bought from a florist; they may be sprayed with chemicals you'd rather not eat. Chocolate is the food of the gods, and a rising star in healthy eating. You need a healthy heart to be a great lover, and chocolate is certainly heart medicine. A mere ounce of dark chocolate (organic, and fair trade, of course) has more polyphenols than a cup of green tea or a glass of wine. Chocolate is a better antioxidant than vitamin C and protects the lipids better than vitamin E. Chocolate keeps the blood thin and free-flowing, and keeps plaque down while protecting platelets from fragmenting. Daily doses of chocolate lower blood pressure, prevent stroke, and decease risk of heart attack. A big red heart-shaped box of dark chocolate, a sweetly-scented rose, an earthy burdock root, some salty seaweed, and a mug of oatstraw. Now you're ready to celebrate love and lust on Valentine's day. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ [image 4][4] Easy Online Courses! Join Susun Weed with her easy video based courses. Learn how to be happy, healthy, and empowered. No testing, no effort, just watch, listen and learn. Click for more information.[5] [image 6] Links:
I love celebrating the druid wheel of the year. Its just an amazing experience to dedicate eight days to magic, ritual, being outdoors, studying, reading, meditation, gardening, and other sacred activity. I had the most wonderful day today making so many medicines from fresh ingredients. Just like at the summer solstice, Lughnassadh is a fantastic time for gathering bright, beautiful herbs, so today I spent most of the day gathering and preparing plants for medicinal use. I thought I’d share so that you have a sense of what herbs are in season right now and what they can be used for. Since I’m trying to replace any over-the-counter medicine with locally gathered or my own home grown herbs, I’m trying to lay in a really good stock of herbs before winter (then I can continue to make things in the wintertime). Once I have a better sense of all of the herbs I want to have for common ailments, I’ll post a list here–but for now, this post serves as a sneak peek to my “family herbal medicine chest.”
In the morning, the skies were clear and blue, the weather warm, and the sun shining. There was very little wind, which allowed the monarchs (who have finally made their way to Michigan) come out and enjoy the milkweed blooms. I went out to my favorite secret harvest spot (an 80 acre parcel of land about a mile away) to see what was ready. The land isn’t far from my home, so I’m pretty sure I also spotted some of my (or other local) honeybees on the spotted knapweed. I was so excited to see that the goldenrod had just came into flower and tons of mullein stalks jutting up around the goldenrod as far as I could see. I gathered up goldenrod, beautiful and bold, for a tincture. I’ve been eagerly awaiting the blooming of the goldenrod all summer, and I’m so glad to finally be able to make this tincture!
I also carefully went around each of the mullein stalks, gathered a few leaves, and spent a good hour gathering up a bunch of mullein flower for an ear oil. I visited at least 30 plants to gather up enough of their delicate flowers. If you look around the plant, in its leaves, etc, and you can find flowers that have already dropped but are still moist.
In addition, I gathered some branches from a fallen oak tree (for an oak bark tincture), bright red clusters of staghorn sumac berry and stinging nettle, all for tinctures. I brought my panflute with me, and in exchange for the harvest, played music for the land for a time, and just sat and enjoyed being out in the fields and among the pines.
Around lunch, I arrived home, ate some yummy food from the garden (it is the first harvest, after all) and setup my medicine-making supplies out on my back porch where I could keep an eye on my free ranging chickens. From nearby herb beds, I gathered colts foot, lady’s mantle, and chamomile. I also gathered up valerian flower for a tincture (I am hoping the flower will be more mild than valerian root, the root I will harvest later in the year).
The tincture making process is a lot of fun. Inspect your herbs to make sure you only have the right ones, check for bugs, and so on. Then, chop up fresh herbs, add alcohol (in a 1:2 ratio for fresh, so 1 part herbs (weight) to two parts alcohol (volume)), and seal in a mason jar. I learned in my herb class that if you are using the standard fresh herb ratio, and the herb is really bulky (like mullein leaf), you can get the herbs below the level of the alcohol by weighing down your herbs with clean stones. That way they don’t turn a funky color and the alcohol can properly extract all of the plant material.
Staghorn sumac, above, is a fantastic (and quite potent) astringent. Its good for leaky, puffy, or lax tissues. There are other astringents less potent than this (like strawberry leaf), but this was one on my “must make” list this year. My hands were still a bit cut up from replacing my chicken coop last weekend (chicken wire hurts!) and so the sumac was quite stinging on the hands as I was carefully pulling off the berries.
Goldenrod (especially when combined with ragweed leaf and stem–NOT ragweed pollen/flower) is great for those snotty, leaky, allergies. Its kinda funny that ragweed leaf and stem can help cure ragweed’s pollen allergies that many people get. As far as I know, nobody is allergic to goldenrod, it gets a bad rap because other allergen producing plants, like ragweed, happen to bloom at the same time and in the same location. I wanted to have a good tincture of goldenrod so that when I encounter people’s pesky dogs that jump up on me, I have something to counter the allergic reaction.
Another tincture I made today was oak bark. Its really good for gums, especially gums that bleed a lot after flossing or brushing teeth or gums that are receding or otherwise lax–its another astringent, so it will help tighten up the tissue.
I had made a St. Johns Wort oil a few weeks ago (the St. Johns wort flowers are about done for the year, but two weeks ago they were in the height of their blossom). I spent today letting it drip off, to get off all the plant matter (if plant matter remains in an infused oil, it will go rancid). This oil is fantastic for any kind of wound (external use). I will probably make a new healing salve blend with some of this along with plantain oil, maybe calendula or a few other things.
Fresh garlic from the garden and the painstakingly gathered mullein flowers went into my awesome enamel and copper double boiler (yard sale find, $15). This oil, which I will infuse over the next three days, is used for ear infections, which I get pretty often in the winter.
I also added some herbs to the dehydrator–its been going straight for weeks now, it seems! I have found such a quality difference between what I can buy vs. what I grow and harvest myself, plus, there are many herbs that one can’t buy easily or cheaply. But these herbs are free and abundant on the land if one grows them or knows where to look.
Here is a photograph of all the herbs I prepared or jarred up today–nine tinctures in all plus four jars of dried herbs from the dehydrator. The tinctures are now macerating and many of the herbs I wanted to preserve have been crossed off my list.
After all that work, I went down to the stone circle for some ritual and meditation, and saw the butterfly of transformation!
To finish out the day, I had a wonderful feast from the garden and the land – wild chicken of the woods mushrooms, green beans, zuchinni, and kale. I hope that everyone has a blessed Lughnassadh!
