Healing Wise

Maitake mushrooms

Maitake mushrooms

Susun prepares and cooks up Maitake mushrooms.

 

Nourish Immunity with Food

Winter Wellness
Nourish Immunity with Food

Sauerkraut: A spoonful daily is the best preventative of colds and the flu. If you didn't make it last fall, it's not too late to do it now. It's ready to eat in a few days. Store bought doesn't work as it has been pasteurized.

Ginger: has shown activity against numerous infectious pathogens. Most notably, fresh ginger inhibits viruses that commonly cause respiratory infections.

Garlic: has been used to prevent infection for thousands of years; and it still works! No need to upset your stomach (and loved ones) by eating it raw; cooked garlic retains its antibacterial powers, so long as you eat enough of it. During plague times, some healers wore a stiff cone of paper or bark stuffed with garlic and spices (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg) tied over the nose to ward off contagion. That's a little cumbersome for modern times, but inhaling the aroma of a cup of spicy chai tea sweetened with garlic honey could help you stay well.

Read the rest here ...

 

Mullein infusion

Mullein infusion

To brew mullein infusion, I fill a quart canning jar about half full of cut and crushed mullein leaf and stalk pieces. (If using commercial herb, I use one ounce by weight.) I fill the jar to the top with boiling water, cap tightly, and let it sit at room temperature for four hours, or overnight.

Mullein leaves are fuzzy, and mullein infusion can be too. To protect my throat, I always strain my mullein infusion through tightly-woven cloth (like a handkerchief) before drinking. The dose of mullein infusion is 1-4 cups a day.

Mullein infusion will last for 5-6 days refrigerated. It brews up to a dark brown liquid with a smoky flavor that I find quite appealing, especially with milk and honey.

To relieve acute lung problems, such as bronchitis, pneumonia, SARS, even coughs, 2-4 cups of mullein infusion a day, plus elecampane, echinacea, and/or poke root tinctures are consumed until health has returned. To strengthen the lungs, or to restore health to lung tissues after "assaults" such as tobacco smoke or radiation: 1-2 cups of mullein infusion daily for six weeks is suggested. To relieve allergies and asthma, 2-4 cups of mullein infusion every day for 6-8 weeks is amazingly effective.

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Foods that Lower Blood Pressure.

Foods that Lower Blood Pressure.

Fruits: apple, banana, blueberry, cranberry, fig, grape, orange, pomegranate.

Vegetables: beets, broccoli, celery, dandelion greens, garlic, mushrooms, parsley, potatoes, seaweed, spinach.

Drinking eight ounces (a cup) of beetroot juice a day decreases blood pressure about as quickly and about as much as most drugs. It is loaded with nitrate, which turns into nitric oxide in the body. Nitro widens blood vessels and increases blood flow.

Read the rest of this article:

www.wisewomanmentor.com/wisdom-archive/foods-that-lower-blood-pressure

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External Uses of Infusions

External Uses of Infusions
What to do when your infusions are past safe for drinking.

A soak consists of an infusion that has been rewarmed after the plant material has been strained out. The affected body part is then soaked in the warm infusion.

If you soak your feet in an herbal infusion, it's a foot bath, an excellent way to soothe and heal the entire body, and absorb herbal benefits.

A sitz bath is a big soak! Two or more quarts of infusion are usually needed to fill a shallow bowl or pan big enough for you to "sitz" in.

A bath is an enormous soak, like steeping your body in an infusion. You can prepare an herbal bath by putting the herbs directly in the tub, but my plumber made it clear to me that herbs and drains are incompatible. Some herbals say to put the herbs in a cloth and allow the bath water to run over them but I find the resulting bath too weak. If you want a strong herbal bath, try it this way: Infuse two quarts of your favorite bath herb, strain, and add the liquid to your hot bath. Ahhhhh!

Read the rest here:
www.wisewomanmentor.com/recipe-archive/external-uses-of-infusions

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Cinnamon, Cardamom, and Nutmeg

Cinnamon, Cardamom, and Nutmeg

 

The aroma of winter is wood smoke and evergreen. But winter holidays smell spicy. Herbs that grow only in the tropics — such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, mace, cardamom, allspice, and vanilla — are called spices. Their aromatic oils and volatile esters entice us with delicious smells and mouth-watering tastes. And spices warm us from the inside, as if we had ingested the tropical sun on a cold day. Spices help preserve food and counter a variety of illnesses, too. Come, sit and warm your feet by the fire. Close your eyes and imagine the dense green forests where aromatic spices grow. ..

* A cup of Cinnamon tea .. eases menstrual cramps, soothes sore joints, relieves gas pain, and allays that feeling of fullness after a big meal. A sip or two of cinnamon tea before meals improves digestion and prevents acid reflux. Those who drink cinnamon tea regularly will have less cavities, stronger gums, and fewer insect bites.
* Chewing cardamom seeds freshens the breath and improves digestion. Herbalists consider cardamom effective for helping the liver, the appetite, the stomach, and the intestines.
* Modern medicine validates Nutmeg’s ability to inhibit diarrhea and slow down the action of the gastrointestinal tract. Folk medicine agrees, using nutmeg against diarrhea, dysentery, inflammation of the mucus membranes, flatulence, and vomiting. Nutmeg has also been shown to effect prostaglandin synthesis and to be a particularly potent antimicrobial. It may also be anti-rheumatic.

Green blessing are everywhere, especially in your spice chest.
🌟
Happy Holidays!
🌟

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🎄

Nettle Sesame Salt

Nettle Sesame Salt

A delicious low-salt seasoning

1 cup/250ml sesame seeds
1/4 cup/60ml dried nettle

Roast sesame in heavy pan over medium heat. Stir constantly to prevent scorching. When browned to your liking, pour into blender or mortar with a pinch of salt and nettle leaves. Grind fairly fine.

Preparation time: 10 minutes.
This disappears as fast as I can make it. Superb on salads and cooked grains.

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🌱

Oat Tart with Date Filling

Oat Tart with Date Filling
by Juliette de Bairacli Levy

Filling: Two pounds stoned dates, one orange, one lemon (small).
Grate the peels off the orange and lemon, then squeeze out all the juice. Pour the juice over the dates in a pan and heat over low heat for about ten minutes until the dates have softened. Now mix the grated peels into this and set aside to cool.

Oat crust: four ounces butter, one tablespoon maple syrup, one cup milk, two cups flaked oats, half cup flour, half cup sugar.
Melt the butter, then add the syrup and the milk. Mix the dry ingredients separately. Finally, add the two mixtures together, mixing very completely to prevent lumpiness.

Grease a round baking tin, spread the oat crust in the bottom and cook for about twenty minutes at 350°F until a light brown color. When semi-cooked take from oven, press up the sides of the crust with a spoon, to make a low wall for the date filling. Now add filling into the tart and bake for a further ten minutes.
When still warm and soft, cut up into triangular portions of the typical tart shape. Allow the tart to set before removing the portions from the baking tin.

Excerpt from Juliette de Bairacli Levys Nature's Children.

Wise Woman Bookshop Sale on Juliette de Bairacli Levy's books, Ends tomorrow!

Buy Two Get One Free!
Use coupon code: JULIETTE2022

www.wisewomanbookshop.com
Sale Ends 10/8/2022
🌿

Dried Tomato Pate

Dried Tomato Pâté  
{excerpt from: Abundantly Well: Seven Medicines}

Spread on crackers, spoon into soup, add to omelets.

* Pack dried tomatoes into a one-cup measure.
* Add boiling water to just barely cover.

When tomatoes are soft, strain out the soaking liquid; save.
Put half the tomatoes in a blender or Cuisinart mini-prep.

* Add ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil.
* Add 1-2 cloves garlic, chopped.
* Add a little sea salt

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Read the rest of this recipe here:
www.wisewomanmentor.com/recipes-2

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Plantain Honey

Plantain Honey
Used to counter coughs and improve digestion.

* Harvest vibrant green plantain leaves at any time of their growth.
* Chop them finely and fill a jar with the fresh chopped leaves.
* Slowly pour honey over the leaves.
* Stir it a bit with a chop stick and add more honey.
* Let it sit overnight and add more honey until it is really full.
* Wipe the jar. Label.

You can begin to use it in a few weeks, but optimum strength is achieved in six weeks.
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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.
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Mint Honeys

Mint Honeys

Fill a jar with fresh mint, best if you cut it fairly fine.

Pour real honey over the herb in the jar.

After you have filled your jar with fresh herb and honey, put a tight lid and a label on it.

Then the hard part: Wait for six or more weeks.

Once your hardy mint honey is ready, you need only scoop a large spoonful of the
herb and honey into a cup, fill with boiling water and drink. Wow! Instant herb tea.

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www.wisewomanmentor.com/recipe-archive/mint-honeys

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Comfrey Kitchen

Comfrey in Water

Water extracts many important plant constituents including minerals, proteins, sugars, starches, polyphenols, volatiles, and vitamins. Some alkaloids are extracted by water, including allantoin and PAs.
Water-based remedies include, teas, infusions, decoctions, poultices, compresses, soaks, baths, and fomentations.

I use comfrey leaf internally and externally.
I use comfrey root externally only.

Comfrey Leaf Tea: steep 1-3 teaspoons of fresh or dried comfrey leaf in a cup of boiling water for 3-5 minutes.
Add honey to increase soothing qualities.

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This excerpt is from The Comfrey Kitchen, which is open Now at The Comfrey Conference.

The entire Comfrey Conference Virtual Event will be May 9-15, 2022.
Register now:
www.wisewomanschool.com/p/the-comfrey-conference

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Stout-hearted Soup

Stout-hearted Soup
Serves 4 - 6

These ingredients feed your immune system and lower your cholesterol.

* Chop 1-2 large onions and saute in olive oil until soft.
* Mince 10-12 cloves of garlic and saute for a few minutes with the softened onion.
* Slice thinly 2 cups of fresh shiitake caps and saute for a few minutes.
* OR cut 1 cup dried shiitake into pieces and add to onions and garlic.
* Pour in 8 cups cold water and turn heat to high.
* Grate a piece of ginger root about as big as your thumb and add it to the soup.
* Toss in 5-6 slices of dried astragalus root.
* Add 1 teaspoonful each dried thyme, dried rosemary, and dried parsley or celery tops.
* Stir in 1 tablespoonful salt.

Bring to a boil; turn down the heat and simmer for an hour or so.
Serve at once, or let cool and serve the next day. This soup keeps well.

excerpt from Your Healthy Heart Online Course
www.wisewomanschool.com/p/a-healthy-heart-the-wise-woman-way-unit-one

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Lusty Herbs for Valentines

Lusty Herbs for Valentines

Saint Valentine groans, no doubt, at the bawdy day crowned with his name. He was, of course, celebate, and our celebration of love and lusty connections surely stands as a mockery to his forbearance. The original holiday had nothing to do with St. Valentine or celibacy. It was a Roman festival of unfettered sexuality in which even married women were allowed the freedom to be intimate with anyone of their choice for the day. And back before the Roman time, further back, in the times of the Ancient Ones, we celebrated the beginning of Spring and fertility, the return of Innana, the rising of Eoster with her red eggs and fecund bunnies in the early days of February.
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. 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.
(Rose Petal Honey Pictured)

Cinnamon, Cardamom, and Nutmeg

Cinnamon, Cardamom, and Nutmeg

The aroma of winter is wood smoke and evergreen. But winter holidays smell spicy. Herbs that grow only in the tropics — such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, mace, cardamom, allspice, and vanilla — are called spices. Their aromatic oils and volatile esters entice us with delicious smells and mouth-watering tastes. And spices warm us from the inside, as if we had ingested the tropical sun on a cold day. Spices help preserve food and counter a variety of illnesses, too. Come, sit and warm your feet by the fire. Close your eyes and imagine the dense green forests where aromatic spices grow. ..

* A cup of Cinnamon tea .. eases menstrual cramps, soothes sore joints, relieves gas pain, and allays that feeling of fullness after a big meal. A sip or two of cinnamon tea before meals improves digestion and prevents acid reflux. Those who drink cinnamon tea regularly will have less cavities, stronger gums, and fewer insect bites.

* Chewing cardamom seeds freshens the breath and improves digestion. Herbalists consider cardamom effective for helping the liver, the appetite, the stomach, and the intestines.

* Modern medicine validates Nutmeg’s ability to inhibit diarrhea and slow down the action of the gastrointestinal tract. Folk medicine agrees, using nutmeg against diarrhea, dysentery, inflammation of the mucus membranes, flatulence, and vomiting. Nutmeg has also been shown to effect prostaglandin synthesis and to be a particularly potent antimicrobial. It may also be anti-rheumatic.

Green blessing are everywhere, especially in your spice chest.
Happy Holidays!

*
Join Susun on her Personal Mentorship site!
Learn how to be happy, healthy, and empowered.
Register now:
www.wisewomanmentor.com

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