Childbearing Year

Plantain Ointment

Plantain Ointment

Pick Plantago leaves when they are vibrant and green. Chop them coarsely and pack loosely into a clean, very dry jar. Add olive oil, dislodge air bubbles with a knife or chopstick until the jar is filled to the very top. label and cap securely. Let sit out of direct sunlight, on a surface that won't be marred by oozing oil.

Decant after six weeks, pouring off the oil and squeezing out what remains in the plant material. Discard the herb. Grate one tablespoon of beeswax for every ounce of oil. Stirring constantly, heat the oil and beeswax until the wax melts, usually within a minute. Pour the liquid into small, wide-mouthed jars (a good excuse for buying marinated artichoke hearts) and cool.

Use this ointment lavishly for diaper rash, insect bites, all itches, and minor wounds. It heals, stops itching, checks bleeding, and eases pain.

Excerpt from Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year
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Making Infused Oils

Making Infused Oils
by Susun Weed

Excerpt from: Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year
In your herbal pharmacy you transform fresh and dried plants into herbal medicines. Learning to identify and use the common plants around you is easy and exciting, beneficial and safe. Making your own medicines saves you money if you follow the Wise Woman tradition of using local herbs, free for the taking.

Even one day's work in field, forest, and kitchen can provide you with many years' worth of medicines. When you make your own, you know for sure what's in it, where it came from, when and how it was harvested, and how fresh and potent it is.

Dried herbs are best for the infusions recommended in this book. Stock your herbal pharmacy with your own foraged or cultivated dried herbs; expand your resources and experiment with new herbs by buying dried herbs from reputable sources.

Fresh herbs are best for the tinctures and oils recommended in this book. If you can't make your own, buy from sources who wildcraft or grow their own herbs to use fresh in preparations.

Whether you buy or make your own medicines, remember, herbal remedies may not work or may work incorrectly if they aren't prepared correctly. Read this chapter carefully; it contains easy to follow instructions for every remedy and preparation mentioned in this book [Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year].

Oil Bases

There are two very different types of oil-based herbal medicines. They are known as essential oils and infused oils.

Essential oils cannot be made easily at home. They are the pure plant oil, usually extracted by chemicals or hot steam. Hundreds of pounds of fresh plant material may produce only ounces of essential oil. Essential oils are readily available commercially. They are used in aroma therapy, as insect repellents, and to increase local circulation.

Essential oils are intended for external use. They can be fatally poisonous if taken internally in quantity. They are also highly irritating to the mucus surfaces of the body (genitals, mouth, eyes, etc.) and may cause allergic skin reactions in some people. Be certain to keep all essential oils well out of the reach of children.

Infused oils can be made at home. They are usually reserved for external uses, but could be taken internally without disastrous results. Infused oils are much less potent than essential oils and have none of the associated side effects. Infused oils can only be made from fresh plants, with the exception of some roots which can be coaxed into an oil base if baked in the oven for many hours.

Infuse herbs in any type of oil: olive, safflower, apricot, coconut, etc. The lighter, clearer oils are expensive; they produce delicate and beautiful infused oils. Olive oil is my personal choice; it rarely turns rancid, is absorbed easily into the skin, adds its own healing benefits to the preparation, and is available inexpensively.

Making Infused Oils

° Pick the plant on a dry, sunny day.

° Discard any diseased or soiled parts. Do not wash any part of the plant. If there is dirt on the plant, scrub it off with a stiff, dry brush.

° Chop the plant coarsely.

° Completely fill a clean, very dry jar with the chopped herb.

° Slowly pour oil into the jar, poking with a chopstick or knife to release air and make sure the oil penetrates into all layers of the herb.

° add enough oil to thoroughly cover all the plant material and fill the jar to the very rim. (As with preparing a tincture, it is really possible to fill that jar twice: once with herb and then again with the vehicle.)

° Cork the jar or screw on a lid.

° Label the jar with he name of the plant, the plant part used, the kind of oil used, and the date. Example: St. Joan's Wort, leaf and flower, olive oil, 21 June 1985.

° Keep the jar of infused oil at normal room temperature and on a surface that will not be ruined by seeping oil.

° Decant the infused oil in six weeks. The plants can be left in the oil longer, but have a tendency to mold and spoil if not kept very cool.

° Oil held in the plant material after the decanting can be extracted. Put small handfuls into a clean kitchen towel or cotton cloth; squeeze and wring out the oil.

° Allow the decanted oil to sit for several days while the water in it (from the fresh plant material) settles to the bottom of the jar. Then carefully siphon or pour off the oil, leaving the water behind.

° Store at cool room temperature or refrigerate.

Trouble Shooting Infused Oils

Mold grows readily in infused oils. the presence of any moisture on the herb or in the jar encourages mold growth.

° If the jar is not filled to the top, mold will grow in the air space left. To save your preparation, completely remove the mold and fill the jar to the top with fresh oil.

° If the jar was not totally dry when you filled it, mold will grow along the inside of the jar. Save your preparation by carefully pouring the oil and the plant material into a dry jar. Jars dried in the oven for five minutes immediately prior to use prevent this problem.

° If the jar is put in the sun or left near a heat source, the warmth will cause condensation inside the jar, providing the moisture necessary for colonies of mold. Remove the mold and pour oil and plant material into a fresh jar to save this.

° If the plant material was wet when combined with the oil, mold will grow throughout the oil. Saving it is impossible. Start again.

Some herbs release gas as they infuse. You may notice bubbles moving in the oil; this is not a problem and does not indicate spoilage. Chickweed, Comfrey, and Yellow Dock are notable in their gas production when infused in oil. The gas will force some of the oil out of the jar (yes, even if tightly capped). Corked jars go pop! Rancidity occurs when there is plenty of heat and oxygen.

Infused oils in an olive oil base resist rancidity at cool room temperature for several years. In very warm climates, adding the contents of a capsule or two of vitamin E to the decanted oil helps prevent rancidity. Tincture of Myrrh or Benzoin added to ointments also checks rancidity; use about ten drops of either per ounce of oil.

Making Ointments

Ointments and salves are easily made from infused oils.

° Pour one ounce of infused oil into a very small pan.

° Grate a tablespoon of beeswax and add it to the oil. (Buy beeswax from a local beekeeper, craft supply shop, or marine supply store.)

° Place the pan on low heat; a candle flame will suffice.

° Stir constantly until the beeswax is totally melted. This rarely takes more than a minute or two.

° Pour the liquid into your ointment jar and allow to cool and solidify.

° If the consistency is too hard, remelt and add more infused oil.

° If the consistency is too soft, remelt and add more beeswax.

Excerpt from:
Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year  

3rd Trimester and Post-Partum Preparations

Q: hi, i am almost into my third trimester with my second daughter. i am looking for the belly balm you have, someone gave me a jar during my first child and i cannot find it even the health food store in town does not have it. can i purchase it directly from you? .... i also would be interested in any tinctures to help with the last bit of my pregnancy, i feel low on minerals and calcium(i know this is when the leg cramps can start). and anything to take to help with postpartum depression...anything i can start taking before. and also any thing for lactation. quite a list but i do like your products and information, one day i will make it to a workshop! thank you, n.

 

A: Hello N., thank you for writing. Congratulations on your pregnancy!

Susun does not make products to sell. She teaches us how to make our own creations. What belly balm are you speaking of? I hear you have a lot of concerns. Do you have or have access to Susun's Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year? It will have many answers to your questions. I am away from my books right now so am not able to type anything out for you. Are you familiar with infusions? You can read about how to make infusions. Here are my recommendations from my own pregnancy, working with Susun's books and speaking with other pregnant women over the years...

I personally find the simpler the better. For a belly balm I used a good olive oil put on every time I bathed before I dried off. I did not get ANY stretchmarks on my belly. I DID get stretch marks on the areas I didn't think of :( - my thighs and under my breasts. So I encourage you to put it on there too. I also, every time I bathed, put this same oil on my perineum. I had NO tears, and my son was nearly 9 pounds.

My favorite infusions for a pregnant woman are Red Raspberry and Nettle leaf. We have a list of herbal suppliers in our links directory. Meantime you can purchase in small amounts at the local health food stores.

I hear your concern of low minerals. It is very understandable. Tinctures deliver mostly alkaloids. Minerals can be found in your nutritious easy to digest foods, herbal vinegars, and infusions. Anything that helps you improve your digestion too will help you make best use of the minerals you do ingest. Nettle leaf infusions are very mineral rich, so are Comfrey leaf infusions. Comfrey too will help healing any tears you may have through birth. Stocking up on minerals now will go a long way in helping ease the post-partum adjustments. Continue all that you do now that feels nourishing to you, even after the babe is born. The mineral rich additions will ALSO help benefit your milk production. Again the comfrey leaf infusions help.

Here are a few articles you may find helpful for now:

Herbs for Pregnancy - Talks about the two infusion herbs I first mentioned as well as calcium.

Parts one and two on breastfeeding concerns - Most of it is for use later, but starts out with info on increasing breast milk.

Minerals - Written for menopausal women, but just as applicable to you :)

And one on Nutrition

Depressed? Wise Woman Ways to offer a Helping Hand - Just in case, though I think both this being your second pregnancy and you adding nourishing mineral rich additions to your diet will go a long way to help you!

Please let me know if I can help further, explain anything in more depth or answer any more questions. If you are not able to get a hold of that book and would like me to look something up in it, I am very happy to :) I would love to hear how you are doing and how your pregnancy and birth go, if I don't hear from you sooner!

Blessings,
Karen Joy
[email protected]
www.wisewomanweb.com