Healing Wise

Make A Tincture/Fresh Herb

Make A Tincture/Fresh Herb
excerpt from: Abundantly Well: Seven Medicines

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I use tinctures in varied doses, from several dropperfuls at a time, to only a few drops at a time. I take tonic tinctures daily. Others as needed.
Alcohol pulls out more poisonous constituents than water.
Tinctures are superior when made from fresh plants.

These tinctures require fresh plants, no exceptions.
* St. Joan’s wort flower means trouble for viruses and frowns.
* Poke root stirs up the lymphatic and immune systems.
* Bloodroot in tiny amounts counter periodontal disease.
* Motherwort calms anxiety, eases the heart.
* Skullcap eases pain and brings deep sleep.
Fill any size jar to the top with cut-up pieces of fresh, just harvested herb, then add 100-proof vodka, right to the top of the jar.
Lid well, label. Ready to use in six weeks.
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excerpt from: Abundantly Well: Seven Medicines
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Winter Allies part 2

When we use herbs to maintain and regain health, we not only take a big step toward health independence but a small step toward peace on our planet. Instead of making war on weeds, I use them. Instead of making war on nature, I let Her guide me. Instead of making war on myself when I'm sick, I nourish myself toward greater health, greater peace.

​Anti-infective Herbs
Anti-infective herbs can help us prevent the flu - and assist us if we do get sick. Colds and the flu are caused by viruses, making them more difficult to treat than bacterial infections. Viruses are more vital than bacteria and harder to kill. There are many anti-bacterial herbs -- including yarrow, echinacea, elecampane, and poke -- but few that are anti-viral. Of these, my favorite is St. Joan's/John's wort. If any herb can prevent the flu, St.J's can.
It's a good idea to have both anti-viral and anti-bacterial herbs on hand. The distinction between them is not so important once you are sick. Both types of herbs will alert the immune system to the infection and help it gather the resources needed to counter it.

Did you know that the achy muscles and headachy feeling we get with the flu is not caused by the flu itself but results from the immune system gobbling up all available resources so it can clobber the flu virus?!

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How to make a nourishing herbal infusion

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How to make a nourishing herbal infusion.
One ounce (30 grams) dried herb
* Always use dried herb
* Always weigh the herb
In a quart (liter) of boiling water.
* Always use boiling water
Tightly covered and steeped (off the heat) for 4-10 hours.
Refrigerate.
Drink a quart a day.

* Never use fresh herb, the cell walls are intact
* Never use a handful or a cup of herb, only a weighed ounce
* Never use aromatic herbs for infusion; a pinch may be added for flavoring

* Make in a jar or a pot.
For serious situations make in a jar.
* Consume hot, cold, or inbetween.
* Add anything to your infusion: honey, milk, lemon, whiskey, fruit juice, coffee. . .

* Treat infusions like blood
Infusions spoil rapidly due to high protein content.
Infusions need to be kept cold after brewing.
Making large amounts requires a way to cool the pot rapidly.

* Put spent herb in your compost pile.
Or broadcast it across your lawn.
Or mulch your house plants with it.
Or give it to a favorite tree.
Spoiled infusion is fertilizer for plants.

Learn more! Sign up for this five-session series that will give you everything you need to be juicier, happier, and healthier.
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Are You Ready for Winter?

Are You Ready for Winter?
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Here come the colder, darker, often sicker, days of the year. Are you ready?
Colds, coughs, flu, stuffy and runny noses, and fevers are the most common winter miseries. To counter and deal with them, I need anti-infective, anti-viral, soothing, and immune enhancing herbs.

A mainstay of preparedness is having plenty of anti-infective herbal remedies on hand to prevent and treat colds, flu, and fevers. Two of my favorites are echinacea and yarrow. I also use Phytolacca (poke).

Yarrow is best tinctured in the summers, while in full flower. I never make this remedy with dried herb; it is too bitter and too harsh for me. But yarrow doesn't mind frost, and an excellent anti-infective tincture can be made with the large leaves available now. Herbalist Gretchen Gould prefers the autumn leaves when making yarrow oil. Fill a jar with well-chopped leaves. Add 100 proof vodka right to the top. Lid and label.

Echinacea roots can be dug after the first frosts and promptly tinctured. And dried Echinacea augustifolia roots can be tinctured anytime. I buy a pound of dried root and make four quarts of tincture, spaced about three months apart. I find tinctures from dried roots are best after sitting for at least twelve months.

Read this article here:
https://www.wisewomanmentor.com/healing-archive/are-you-ready-for-winter%3F-part-1
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Herbal Infusions

Herbal Infusions

Herbal infusions differ from herbal teas: They are darker in color and richer tasting because their long brewing extracts many more nutrients -- especially minerals. My favorite nourishing herbal infusions for are oatstraw, red clover blossoms, stinging nettle leaves, and comfrey leaves.

To prepare your infusion: Put a quart of cold water up to boil. Weigh one ounce of dried (not fresh!) herb into a quart canning jar. Go brush your teeth and count your grey hairs until the teapot whistles. Pour the boiling water into the jar with your herb (only one herb at a time, please!), screw on a tight lid, turn off the light, and go to bed. Next morning strain out the herb and drink the liquid: cold, hot, or at room temperature. Add honey, tamari, or milk if desired.

Learn more in this online course:
www.wisewomanschool.com/p/nourishing-herbal-infusions

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Instead of Antibiotics

Instead of Antibiotics

There are good reasons to use antibiotic drugs. That said, itis agreed that they are often overused. If the infection is not life threatening, you may wish to try herbs instead of, or in addition to, regular antibiotics.
Of the most-often used herbal anti-infectives - calendula, chaparral, echinacea, goldenseal, myrrh, poke, usnea, and yarrow - it is the lovely purple coneflower that I most often turn to.

I find echinacea as effective as antibiotics (dare I say sometimes better than!) if E. angustifolia/augustifolia), not E. purperea, is used; tincture, not capsules or teas is used; the root, and only the root, is used; and very large doses are taken very frequently.

To figure your dose of echinacea, divide your body weight (in pounds) by 2; take that many drops per dose. There are about 25 drops in a dropperful; round up to full droppers. If you weigh 180 pounds, take 90 drops/4 dropperfuls. There is no known overdose of echinacea tincture.
With acute infection I take a full dose every 2-3 hours. When chronic, a full dose every 4-6 hours.

excerpt from 'Down There: Sexual and Reproductive Health the Wise Woman Way'
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Goji berries

Goji berries!

Goji berries are very healthy for the eyes, are loaded with nutrition and packed with vitamins.

Learn more about Goji berries in the online course - Adaptogens: Herbs for Energy, Longevity, and Optimum Health.
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Chickweed Poultice

Chickweed Poultice

*Apply the fresh herb, washed, directly onto sores, closed eyes, wounds.
or *Cook the greens and stalks, especially when using older plants or treating deeply; cool somewhat before applying.
or *Simmer chickweed in half water, half vinegar for about five minutes, cool and apply.

Then cover chickweed with a cotton towel or a thin layer of clay, and poultice for five minutes to three hours. Replace when poultice feels hot to the touch and oozes. (Yes, hot! Though most poultices are applied warm and removed when they cool, chickweed poultices actually heat up as they draw out infection and heat.)
Relief often begins within a few hours of the initial application, with pain and swelling diminishing steadily as treatments continue.
Poultices used on infections, such as pinkeye, must be thrown away after use. Poultices used on clean wounds and unbroken skin can be reused several times if chickweed is in short supply.
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Excerpt from Healing Wise
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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.
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Excerpt from Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year.
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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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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.
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Happy Holidays!
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Winter edible weed: Cronewort

Winter edible weed:  Cronewort (Artemisia vulgaris)

The little leaves of my friend cronewort (AKA mugwort), minced, will add a savory, slightly bitter bite to our salad. Just a few will do the trick. Yes, you can still make a cronewort vinegar, with leaves or roots and leaves, if you can find young growth, which is generally easy.

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Elder Remedies

Elder Remedies

Cold and flu season is approaching. Here's some Elder remedies to help keep you healthy.

* Dried Elder Berry Tincture
Fill any size jar no more than half full of dried elder berries. Fill jar to the top with 100 proof vodka. Cap, label, wait for six weeks, and use.

* Dried Elder Berry Infusion
Put 1-2 ounces of dried berries in a quart jar and fill to the top with boiling water. Steep overnight. Drink it, a half cup at a time, or turn it into a decoction.

* Dried Elder Berry Decoction
Pour a quart of infusion, berries and all, into a saucepan and gently simmer until the liquid is reduced by one-half or more. In other words, you want to wind up with 1-2 cups of decoction. The decoction may be taken by the teaspoonful. It keeps best if refrigerated. Or make a syrup with your decoction.

* Dried Elder Berry Syrup
When you have reduced it as much as you wish, add sweetener. A classic syrup contains as much sweetener as herbal liquid. So you could add a cup of honey or maple syrup or white sugar to one cup of elder berry decoction. Syrups need to be refrigerated.

* Dried Elder Berry Glycerite
Buy glycerin at the drugstore or health food store. Dilute it by at least half with sterile water. Dilutions as low as one part glycerin to four parts water will work. Fill a jar no more than half full of dried elder berries. Fill the jar to the top with the diluted glycerin. The resulting glycerite is ready to use, by the dropperful, in 6 weeks.

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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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