(this is part 2 of a 10-part series, a life’s journey to become an herbalist observing gail faith edward’s article on the subject. you can find part 1 here.)

gail’s second step in her ten-fold path is to pay attention, observe and concentrate. she says:

“I have lived on this ridge-top herb farm for over thirty years. The thing about living in one place for a long time is that you get to notice things. And you have plenty of time and activity behind you to base observations on. It takes a long time to notice some things; like how plants move naturally across a field, on their own, over a thirty year span. Or the length of time it took your usnea tincture to turn orange the last few times you made it. Observation is one of the most important skills of an herbalist. Whether you are or aspire to be a wildgatherer and medicine maker, a clinical herbalist or herbal nutritionist, whatever your particular herbal path is, you will need to develop keen observation skills. How do you do that? By paying attention.

An herbalist must pay constant attention to life. All of life and life processes. One way to do that is by tending a garden over many years. Goethe said that he spent his whole life in the garden and thus discovered the entire world. Start seeds and watch them grow. Welcome the same plant stands back year after year. Notice everything about your plants in every season. Notice their effects on people, animals, insects, other plants, the soil, the air. Visit your garden often, taking time to breath deeply, smell deeply, see deeply, listen deeply, relax deeply. Breathe from your heart. Watch the bees and butterflies, feel the breeze.”

although i’ve only been on this farmette for 6 years, i have observed more activity and changes with the flora than i probably have a lifetime of living at any other place. i have observed the plants moving slowly across the garden as well as plants that completely moved to the other side of our property and start growing where they never existed before as well as plants disappear completely from the landscape.

this year, i learned there are at least 3 wild varieties of rose growing on our property simply by taking regular walks that i didn’t bother to do in the past. i observed that the multiflora rose blooms sooner than the rugosa rose and the 3rd unidentified rose. i’ve watched small elder plants mature enough to start producing fruits, my own st. john’s wort completely disappear from my garden and jewelweed slowly creeping closer onto our property.

i’ve also noticed different growth patterns and plants emerging sooner than usual or later than usual. i got to see my peony plant bloom for the first time since i’ve lived here. also, nettles appeared for the first time after hopefully searching for them over the past 6 years. this year they flourished as if they had always grown there.

(this is part 1 of a 10-part series, a life’s journey to become an herbalist observing gail faith edward’s article on the subject),

gail’s first step in the ten-fold path is to build a sense of place:

“The cultivation of a deep sense of place is invaluable for an herbalist. We all emerge out of an eco system, a bioregion, we are all connected elementally, as well as ethereally, to our surroundings, to our place. Understanding this sense of place and how it relates to plants and people is an important part of the herbalist’s path. It is often overlooked, as when a woman in northeastern America is offered an herb that grew in South Africa as a remedy for her ills. Cultivate a sense of place, its critical to understanding the actions as well as possible effects of combining individual plants and people.”

this one is dear to my heart but for a different reason. i completely believe in using herbs from my region but i more have considered it because of 1. teaching people to be self healers and confidence starts with being able to show them herbs that grow in their own backyards and are easy to recognize and 2. if the end of the world as we know it were to happen, we would not be able to get an exotic herb so instead of trying the latest and greatest, i feel it’s better to stick with what we have at our fingertips.

being able to take advantage of the abundance in our own back yards, local parks, woods and wild places is one of the best things we as herbalists can do and teach. during the summer, my herbal study group includes herb walks so i can show plants that i cultivate in my garden and plants that grow on their own in the wild. this includes natives and invasives. invasives are here to stay whether we like it or not so we might as well take advantage of their medicine that they offer and use them. it will keep them in check as well.

taking daily walks is a great way to have a sense of space. i try to take note of what i discover growing in the wild, where it is growing (shade, full sun, near water, along fence row, in pathway), what the conditions are like (spring, summer, fall, winter) and what stage of grow it is in (flowering, fruiting, dying back) for future reference. i have finally dedicated a watercolor spiral bound book just for my walks to keep note in and hope to fill it with my notes, sketches and possibly even a few photographs as time goes on. this will allow me to track the changes of plant species growing, what comes, what goes, and when. i’ve lived on this land for 6 years and already i’ve seen big changes to the flora.

while i view this home as a temporary place, a sort of transition to my future forever home, my roots go deep into the earth in this area and for now, this is my place in life. i love to nurture and urge plants to grow here and teach me all they can. for now, my sense of place is here and i will continue to offer what i can to the plants and people of my community.

gail faith edwards wrote an article awhile back about the ten-fold path to becoming a community herbalist in response to an article that paul bergner wrote. most of them tie in nicely with quaker testimony so i plan to try to incorporate them into my daily living. here is a brief outline of the 10 things she feels are important to become a community herbalist:

1 – Sense of Place

2 – Pay Attention – Observation. Concentration

3 – Become humus. Humble yourself

4 – Learn to open your wild heart, connect with your inner wild nature

4 – Herbal Ally

5 – Study, study, study

6 – Simplify your life

7 – Cultivate your spirituality

8 – Listen to your clients

9 – Be your own refuge

10 – Practice learning

over then next few weeks,  i hope to write a bit about each item and what i’m doing or plan to start to deepen my learning as a community herbalist.

Editor’s note:

Today we are excited to have a guest herbal columnist on our site today. Kiva Rose is a well-known herbal blogger, and co-founder of the Traditions in Western Herbalism Conference.

Kiva is finally coming out with her secrets of how she learns so much about plants without using books. Her plant monographs, like the one below, are famous for their deep exploration into herbs that you will not find in other places.

Click here to learn just HOW she does it.

Do you REALLY know chamomile? Review what you’ve learned this summer about it with this article. Enjoy the article…

Earth Apple: The Bittersweet Medicine of Chamomile

By Kiva Rose

I am excited to finally be able to go deeper into explaining herbal energetics in my upcoming course, Herb Energetics.

Let’s begin with an herb we all know and love, chamomile.

However, do you REALLY know Chamomile?

Chamomile means “earth apple” which is easy to understand when we accidentally trample the flowers and underfoot and suddenly smell the welcome fragrance of apples rising from the earth. In the same way, Spanish speaking peoples often use the name Manzanilla, literally meaning “little apple”.

Even for those largely unfamiliar with herbs, the distinctive sweet scent of Chamomile is often both familiar and comforting. This plant is many people’s first and perhaps only introduction to herbalism, often from a cup of honey-sweetened and belly-calming tea from their grandmother.

Many children enjoy eating the buds or just opened flowers, savoring the sweet aromatic taste of the plant, and rarely seeming to mind the slightly bitter aftertaste. Some patches of Chamomile, depending on phase of flowering and availability of moisture, are much more bitter than others but the fragrant sweetness persists even in the most bitter batches.

Far from irrelevant, these signature sensory characteristics of Chamomile that make the plant memorable in our minds are also the primary keys to understanding how to work with Matricaria as a medicine.

As with almost any herb, the taste and scent of Matricaria tells us a great deal about its properties, allowing us to use our senses to listen to the plant and understand its essence as a medicine. That blissfully apple-like scent that children so love to breathe in from the flowers tends to bring relaxed smiles to their faces and anyone who’s ever drank a cup of the tea can testify to the relaxing, tension alleviating effects of the plant.

That aromatic component, stemming from the plant’s high volatile oil content, is predictably nervine, meaning that it has a discernible effect on the nervous system. In this case, a specific relaxing, calming effect. Additionally, that same volatile oil content is responsible for Chamomile’s actions as a carminative, relieving digestive stagnation in the form of gas, gut cramping and mild constipation. A traditional remedy by several North American indigenous tribes for the uterine cramps of girls just beginning their menstrual cycles, Chamomile is a mild relaxant for the smooth muscles of the gut, uterus, bladder and respiratory tract with a specific affinity for the gut.

Matricaria is not just aromatic, even in the sweetest Chamomile flowers we find a notably bitter aftertaste. Rather than ruining the flavor of an otherwise tasty herb, that bitter element enhances and expands the medicinal properties of the plant. The bitter flavor tells us that it has a distinct effect on the digestive system, even beyond the aromatic/carminative qualities.

The bitterness increases the secretion of digestive juices and enzymes in the gut, thereby improving digestion wherever there is a lack of secretions, which is a common cause of heartburn and many cases of general gut discomfort. This combined with its obvious nervine properties; Matricaria excels at treating what is commonly known as a “nervous stomach”, which generally implies digestive upset concurrent with anxiety and nervous tension.

Volatile oils and bitter principles together make for a powerful ability to reduce inflammation and promote healing, especially in the gut. I rarely create a formula for those with leaky gut, irritable bowel syndrome or even Crohn’s disease that doesn’t contain some proportion of Chamomile. Even as a simple, this pleasant tasting plant can very effectively reduce gut inflammation, pain and cramping while promoting healing of the mucosa and improving overall digestion. And of course, reducing any anxiety that may be aggravating or triggering the gut issues in the first place.

Just as it soothes and heals internally, Matricaria is also a first-rate external application for almost any case of inflammation, irritation, swelling and even potential infection. It finds its way into many of my compress formulas for eczema, psoriasis, atopic dermatitis and other common inflammatory skin conditions.

Steams, baths and infused oil are other effective ways of utilizing the calming, decongestive and healing properties of the herb. It’s also the first plant I think of in addressing the discomfort, irritability, insomnia, belly upset and fever of teething in small children.

Chamomile is one of my favorite remedies for all sorts of eye inflammations and infections. It can be used as a warm compress or saline eyewash to reduce inflammation, possible infection and pain in the treatment of styes, conjunctivitis, pink eye and similar maladies.

It teams up especially well with any Rosa spp. petals where there is a great deal of redness, irritation and swelling in the eye and the surrounding area. Just be sure to strain all those tiny (and potentially irritating) bits of Chamomile flower before using as an eyewash.

Chamomile has a well-deserved reputation as an archetypal remedy for children (or as Matthew Wood says “children of any age”), especially where there is fussiness, restlessness, frequent digestive upset and a tendency to react strongly to any irritant or discomfort. If one were to read the first dozen monograph on Matricaria they came across, the word “soothing” would be likely to show up in nearly every one. While now a somewhat clichéd representation of this common herb, it is nonetheless very accurate.

There’s a tendency by some of us to be less interested in the classic gentle herbs whose effects seem obvious, mild and less than profound. And yet, Chamomile has retained it’s popularity and reputation over the years for a very a specific reason. It works. It’s an effective, widely applicable, safe medicine well-loved by countless generations of mothers, herbalists and more recently, even medical doctors. This small but fragrant apple of the earth remains an invaluable medicine for all of us. Through both sweet and the bitter tastes, Chamomile provides us with a simple yet essential remedy.

Considerations: People with sensitivities to plants in the Aster family may have similar problems with Matricaria. Also note that Pineapple Weed (M. discoidea) often has a stronger bitter component and overall action than the common garden grown M. recutita.

The low down…

Common Name: Chamomile, Manzanilla, Pineapple Weed

Botanical Name: Matricaria recutita (as well as M. discoidea)

Botanical Family: Asteraceae

Taste: Aromatic, sweet, bitter

Vital Actions: relaxant nervine, relaxant diaphoretic, aromatic bitter/carminative, vulnerary,

Specific Indications: Irritability, tension, heat, hypersensitivity to pain

Energetics: sl. Cool, dry

So, exactly how does Kiva learn about plants by using her senses?

Just click here.

July’s Herbal Sprouts Workshop was all about Lemon Balm! What a refreshing herb to learn about today in the heat of summer.

We made popsicles:

We made lemon balm lip balm:

We sang songs:

We acted out the story of Lemon Balm:

We colored and created and learned all about lemon balm:

The next Herbal Sprouts Workshop will be on Tuesday, August 10th from 10am – 2pm and is all about Peppermint. For more information, go to our meetup page: http://www.meetup.com/Herbal-Study-Group/calendar/13711517/

This month’s Blog Party is hosted by me! The topic is Beating the Heat of Summer with Herbs. Anything to do with the sun is game! Sunscreens, sunburn treatment, heat exhaustion and just keeping your cool with herbs are some things that come to mind. For more ways to beat the heat, see the bottom of my post for other herbalists’ posts on the topic!

Earlier this morning, my partner was suffering from a mild case of heat exhaustion. One of the first things I did for him was make him a mix of homemade electrolytes to drink:

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt (i used Himalayan pink)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons raw honey
1 quart water

While not very appetizing, it is helpful for getting the body back into balance. The flavor could be enhanced by making a tea from peppermint which is beneficial for treating heat exhaustion (see below).

The most important thing to do when suffering from heat exhaustion is to get the body temperature back down and the body rehydrated. Lying in a cool room, misting yourself with a water bottle and/or placing a cool, damp washcloth on the back of your neck are all very helpful for cooling the body temperature. Drinking the electrolyte drink helps to rehydrate the body and bring it back into balance since sweating can cause the body to lose important minerals.

Symptoms of heat exhaustion include:

• Heavy sweating
• Fatigue
• Headache
• Pale, clammy skin
• Thirst
• Rapid heartbeat
• Dizziness, fainting
• Nausea, vomiting
• Muscle cramps
• Mild temperature elevations

If the body temperature goes above 104 degrees F, risk of heat stroke is great so it is important to get the body cool.

To treat his symptoms and give him some comfort while he was recuperating, I made a tea of peppermint and ginger and added some meadowsweet tincture. This tea not only treated the symptoms but was also helpful for correcting the root of the problem. Peppermint and ginger are long known to treat nausea and upset stomachs. Ginger is high in potassium and magnesium and peppermint is high in calcium, magnesium and potassium, all of which are needed when treating heat exhaustion.  Peppermint is cooling which is helpful for bringing down the body’s temperature. Ginger also has cooling properties, by causing the body to sweat which lowers the body temperature. Since I didn’t necessarily want him to sweat some and lose more water, I waited until the tea cooled down to have him drink it which would negate some of the sweating properties of the tea.

Meadowsweet is great for treating headaches. It contains salicylic acid which is what aspirin was created from. It is also gentle on the stomach and makes a great companion for treating combinations of headaches and stomachaches.

By the time he had finished the tea and electrolytes, he was feeling much better. While heat exhaustion is nothing to fool around with, if caught soon enough and treated quickly, the situation is easy to reverse. Prevention is always the best medicine! Not working during the heat of the day on strenuous activities, or stopping work when you start to feel overheated, wear loose, lightweight clothing, drinking plenty of fluids (adding a pinch of sea salt to your water is important because replacing fluids with just water is not enough) that are cool but not icy and wearing a damp bandana or washcloth around your neck are all ways to help prevent heat exhaustion.

And now for some more herbalists’ articles on the topic of Beating the Heat of Summer:

Sean wrote about herbal first aid for heat exhaustion

Rosalee wrote a lovely article on making chamomile popsicles

Kristena of Dreamseeds wrote a great article full of fun tips for keeping cool, including using essential oils and a reminder about drinking cold, alcoholic beverages this time of the year

Karen Vaughn wrote about cooling summer herbal beverages and lists her top 10 favorite summertime drinks

Cory wrote about a nifty trick to help keep cool using flax seeds

Herban Chica wrote about her favorite summer tea

Keep checking back. I’ll add more posts as they become ready!

It’s May, and with the sap risen and the world coming into blossom, this month’s Blog Party will be focusing on herbs for sexual health and vitality — from aphrodisiacs to contraceptives to herbs for the reproductive system to herbs that help to heal our emotional and spiritual relationships to our bodies and our sexuality.

this month’s blog party is hosted by sean donahue of green man ramblings. go to his blog to see all the posts writing about this subject this month!

when considering herbs for sexual health and vitality, many exotic herbs come to mind. when trying to focus on regional herbs, the herbs may sound less exotic but pack the same punch as the foreigners! so if you are looking to try some herbs for sexual health and vitality, i highly recommend you start with the herbs in your back yard.

hawthorne is the first herb that comes to mind when i think of matters of the heart. hawthorne is supreme as a cardiovascular strengthener and tonic. not only does hawthorne work physically on the heart, but he works emotionally on the heart as well, uplifting the emotions and making one feel more at peace and happy. i love taking hawthorne in an elixir form. to make an elixir, fill a jar 1/2 full with hawthorne berries. fill half full with brandy and top off with local raw honey. shake and let sit for at least 2 weeks, shaking daily. after 2-4 weeks, strain off and use. i find hawthorne elixir a great addition to my morning herb teas. i add 2-3 droppers full.

rose is another emotional mood enhancer. is there any reason why roses are the symbol of love and passion? there is more to it than just a pretty flower with a nice scent.  they are an aphrodisiac and help with opening the heart and helping to heal emotional imbalances. rose is also calming and sedating. kiva rose taught me the recipe for wild rose elixir and i’ll forever more make as much as i can when it comes time to harvest rose petals and rose hips! i generally fill about 1/3 of the jar with rose hips before adding the petals but either way, it is good! take liberally as needed.

red raspberry leaf is a nourishing and tonic herb for the female reproductive system. red raspberry has lots of vitamin c plus contains vitamins a, b complex, e, calcium, iron, phosphorous and potassium. red raspberry has many good effects on the reproductive system including increasing fertility (both in men and women), eases morning sickness, reduces pain during and after labor/birth. raspberry also can help prevent miscarriages and hemorrhaging during pregnancy and birth. raspberry also encourages the uterus to return to its normal shape after birth, making recovery much quicker. red raspberry also encourages the flow of mama’s milk and makes the milk rich for baby. raspberry infusions are the best way to take this herb! to make, add 1 handful of dried raspberry to a quart jar. place a metal utensil in the glass jar and fill with hot water. remove the metal utensil (keeps the jar from breaking from the heat of the water), cap and let steep overnight or for a minimum of 4 hours. strain off and drink in a 24 hours period. the infusion can be heated or iced as you prefer.

vitex is an interesting herb as she decreases a man’s libido but increases a womans! while this herb does not grow natively in my area, she is hardy enough to be planted here. she also seems to increase fertility in women. vitex can be made into an elixir (follow hawthorne’s recipe above) or as a tincture. to make a tincture, fill a jar 1/2 full of vitex berries. fill the jar with everclear or another 100% grain alcohol and let sit for 3-4 weeks, shaking daily. to take, add 2 droppers full to a glass of water or herb tea 3 times a day.

oats a.k.a milky oats are considered to be a sexual appetite booster. this wonderfully nourishing herb assists with the blood flow, keeping the arteries to the pelvic region open for both men and women. oats is a gently stimulating nervine, nourishing and calming the nerves while increasing sensitivity to touch. milky oats are a different part of the plant from oat straw. milky oats are the unripened tops of the oats which exude a milky substance when squeezed at harvest time. They are wonderful used dried in a tea or tinctured up on a formula. to make a milky oat tincture, fill a jar full with milky oats and cover with grain alcohol. let sit for 3-4 weeks, shaking daily. strain and use as needed. you can also make an infusion following the directions above for red raspberry.

ginkgo is not only a memory enhancer, it enhances and brings blood circulation to other parts of the body as well. particularly useful for men with arterial erectile dysfunction, ginkgo boosts the blood flow in the penis without raising blood pressure the way some pharmaceutical drugs can do. ginkgo is also good for stimulating the adrenals, assisting with energy levels. make a tincture (see above for oats) and take 1 dropperful 3-4 times a day. it may be helpful for men to take a dose about 30 minutes before love making to help enhance blood flow.

feeling exhausted continuously can cause a strain on sexual desire and stimulation. nourishing and restoring the adrenals can do wonders for the sexual appetite as well. a blend i have had good results with for restoring adrenal health is as follows:

4parts:
borage

3 parts each:
gota kola
milky oats

2 parts each:
licorice
ginkgo

mix together and take 2 droppers full 3 times a day. i have found borage to be a little over stimulating at times and sometimes will keep the borage tincture separate from the rest of the blend, only taking 1 dropperful of  borage with the blend in the morning and afternoon and leave it out for the evening dosage so that i can go to sleep at night.

i love this time of year! one day, i walk outside and everything is brown and dead. i look down closely at the ground and i can see tiny wisps of grass, clover, plantain, dandelion and chicory starting to poke their sleepy heads from the soil and i know, any day now, spring will arrive.

another day, i walk out to be greated by the site of new baby lambs or kids. it’s so much fun to see what new babies we’ll have and to try to guess how many lambs or kids a ewe or doe will have and if they will be a boy or girl and what color they will be!

also that day, there may also be a gentle rain, cool but not cold. the maple trees stop flowing and at the same time i strain my ears….did i hear them? yes! the peepers are back. the first evening i hear them, there are only a few present. the next day, the chorus starts and their song can be heard day and night. that’s when i know, it is here! spring is back once again.

and then, the next day, the sun comes out and i step outside to go gather eggs and everything is GREEN! fabulous! spring has finally arrived. the chickens are laying eggs with a furiousness that can only advent the return of the warmth and sunlight. the kids are dancing about, the lambs running around.

i eagerly walk through the herb gardens, marveling at the  herbs peeking out of the ground that weren’t there the day before. i see chickweed of course, he’s always the first to arrive! and plantain, and dandelion. the next day, motherwort, daylilies, bergamot and ooooh, hi there nettles! glad to see you! next comes feverfew, chives, calamus, wormwood, mugwort, betony and a whole litany following. each day, i greet old friends as they arrive from their journey back from the earth to spring up and dance in the golden sunlight and sparkling rain. glorious spring!

there’s been a lot of talk about the swine flu and how to prepare it lately online. a lot of scary talk, from mandatory vaccines (which incidentally, the manufacturers have just had a law passed on their behalf which holds them unresponsible for any side affects that might occur from said vaccination) to quarantines and more.

many people are wondering what to do to prepare for the flu, to help prevent it, how to lessen the severity and duration and how to avoid the secondary bacterial infections that can occur from complications of it. i hope to be able to touch on all these things and give you a starting point for feeling confident in preventing and/or treating any cases of the flu that might come into your home. today i’ll cover what to do to prevent the flu from entering your home.

first of all, to vaccinate or not? honestly, that is a personal decision that you alone have to decide. i can tell you that research has proven that the flu vaccination (for any flu, not just the swine flu) will NOT prevent the flu. it will only lessen the duration of the flu by 1-2 days and lessen the severity of it. also, the vaccination needs to be taken at least 10 days before the flu is contracted to be effective. herbalist michael tierra recommends taking homeopathic thuja occidentalis 30x starting 2 days after vaccinating for 3 days, 3 times a day, with a dosage of 10-20 drops for liquid or 4-5 for pellets. he recommends taking this for prevention and to treat reactions, including guillain-barre syndrome (which is one of the side effects of the swine flu vaccine).

whether or not you decide to vaccinate, there are precautions you can take to avoid the flu. one of the most obvious is hygiene. frequent hand washing is a must. watching what you touch in public, possibly bringing along your own alcohol wipes to wipe off shopping carts and your hands is a great idea. most public places offer handy wipes and while i generally wouldn’t use them, for this time of year, it’s a smart choice.

~as an aside, if you do get the flu and your doctor recommends tamiflu, please be aware it is only helpful if taken in the first 1-2 days of contracting the flu and will not ‘cure’ you of the flu but only lessen the duration and severity….see a pattern here?!~

getting large dosages of vitamin d3 to keep our vit d levels up has been proven effective for preventing the flu. the problem with us folks in the northern hemisphere is that no matter how much time we spend outdoors this time of year, we are not going to get the necessary amounts of vitamin d into our system because the angle of the sun/earth will not allow it which causes many people to become vitamin d deficient in the winter months. paul bergner recommends going to a tanning booth 3 times a week for 20 minutes, using a tanning bed with uvb rays. (if you go this route, make sure you specify you want a uvb bed as most beds are calibrated for uva). this is too short of a time to get sunburn or cancer is the most natural way to get vitamin d3 this time of year (funny, i never thought i’d recommend a tanning bed as ‘natural’ but here ya go!). another way to get vitamin d3 is to take 4-5000  iu a day. there has also been some suggestion of eating sun-dried mushrooms which contain vitamin d2, another useful form of vitamin d that could also be effective. a third way of getting enough vitamin d would be to visit south florida or mexico during the winter and hang outside between 11-1, exposing as much as your body as possible (your face does not absorb enough vitamin d on its own).

diet plays a large role in remaining healthy as well. avoiding the usual recommendations of processed and refined foods, eating lots of dark, leafy greens, drinking at least 8 glasses of water a day all have their merit. cooking bone broths and using them for daily cooking in place of water (for rice, beans, soups, etc) are another great way to get lots of valuable nutrients. adding 4-6 ‘sticks’ of astragalus roots to a soup/broth once a week will give your entire family a huge immune supporting and building herbal treatment without them even knowing it. garlic is another great herb to try to consume daily. rosemary gladstar has a great recipe for pickled garlic. unfortunately, it takes 12 weeks to completely process but it’s great to have on hand any time of the year! here’s my version of it:

peel as many cloves of garlic as you’d like. i generally fill 1 quart jar full of them. try not to nick the cloves as they will become discolored. fill the jar full of either tamari or apple cider vinegar. i usually make 1 jar of each because they both are tasty! label and set aside for 6 weeks. after 6 weeks, strain off half of the tamari or vinegar and top the jar back off with raw honey. shake well to mix and then set aside for 6 more weeks. now it’s ready to consume! eat a couple a day to keep the germs away! these make tasty gifts as well. if you start a batch today, they will be ready on december 17! just in time to give away to family and friends for the holidays and possibly even enough time to save yourself from the flu season (jan – mar is typically the hardest hit time).

exercising daily is important as it keeps the blood from getting stagnant. exercising outdoors is preferable so that your lungs can breathe in fresh air. something as simple as stretching or yoga every day is the perfect way to begin your day, especially if done outside. it’s an invigorating and wonderful way to start the day!

other important factors are adequate sleep, lowering stress levels and having a happy outlook on life.

one final factor is using herbs to help prevent the flu from arriving on your doorstep. i’ve already mentioned using garlic and astragalus in your daily/weekly cooking. burdock is another great nourishing root that is quite delicious when cooked right! here’s a great recipe to try it out:

Burdock-n-Wild Rice

2 cups sliced Burdock root (about 4-5 medium-sized roots)
5 or 6 Wild Leeks (can substitute 6-8 cloves garlic)
2 Tbsp olive oil
Thai peanut Sauce* (find at a local co-op or ethnic food section of grocery store)
1 cup wild rice, uncooked

Cover washed and sliced fresh burdock roots in 2 cups water with ½ tsp baking soda. Bring to a boil, pour off the water. Cover with fresh water and boil gently until burdock is very tender, about 10 minutes.   Drain thoroughly, put into a skillet.  (Note: cast iron may discolor the burdock root)

Add chopped leeks or garlic.  Sauté in 2 Tbsp olive oil for 5-10 minutes.  Meanwhile cook wild rice in 2 cups water, 20-30 minutes. Mix sautéed burdock with cooked rice. Add ½ cup Thai peanut sauce.  Serve hot or cold.

*Can substitute any favorite stir-fry sauce for the Thai peanut sauce

burdock root can be found growing all over the place or in your local asian grocer. it is also known as gobo.you can add some chopped root to any soup base. just be sure to follow this method before adding to stocks or soups to make it palatable:

cover washed and sliced fresh burdock roots in 2 cups water with ½ tsp baking soda. bring to a boil, pour off the water. cover with fresh water and boil gently until burdock is very tender, about 10 minutes.

elderberry is another great herb to take that has shown to be prophylactic for the flu. unlike echinacea which should only be taken for a short period of time, elderberry can be taken daily for long periods of time. it’s great as a tincture (glycerin is actually best because it draws out the constituents better than alcohol), syrup or elixir. taking a ‘touch of the recipe’ as the ballwin sisters were known to do on occasion on the waltons, is actually a wise choice for this time of the year, especially when elderberry is involved!

echinacea can be taken as well but i’m backing down on recommending this because of conflicting information about the ‘cytokine storms’ inhibition. i think early on, it is great to help as a preventative but once the flu hits, i would stop use immediately. since this post is already so long, i will not go into detail about this subject but if you are interested in learning more, you can google cytokine storms and echinacea to get more details.

all these factors boil down to having a better chance of avoiding the flu or lessening the duration and severity of it. if you are stricken with the flu, don’t panic, for most of us, a few days in bed, lots of nourishing bone broths and/or miso, herbal teas (think antivirals such as lemon balm, peppermint, licorice, ginger, turmeric, cinnamon, boneset, chamomile and st. john’s wort) to help support the body without wildly stimulating the immune system and lots of ginger, garlic, elderberry and astragalus will be the key to a quick recovery and lack of secondary bacterial infections.

a lot of people become intimidated when it comes to herbs because they don’t know where to start. most are familiar with the more commonly used ones such as echinacea and st. john’s wort but what a lot of people don’t realize is that they have a whole arsenal of medicinal herbs in their spice cabinet: garlic, rosemary, thyme, sage, fennel, dill and anise seeds, lemons and turmeric are a great start. pull out some salt, vinegar, olive oil and honey (raw) from your cabinet and you’ve got the makings of a first aid kit worthy of treating winter ailments! throw in some vodka or brandy and you can make a full spectrum of herbal remedies.

garlic: natural antibiotic, broad spectrum which body/germs don’t build a resistance to allowing it to be used over and over again. useful for helping to fight off bacterial infections, earaches and other wintertime ailments such as strep throat. can help to reduce span of illness. best raw (but take in small doses as it can irritate in large). can be heated in oil to make eardrops or infused in honey and eaten to help with sore throats, etc. tinctured in brandy or vodka, it can be taken as needed (15-30 drops at a time depending on body size) to help.

to use in oil: crush garlic cloves, place in double boiler with olive oil and gently warm for 2 hours. strain and add a few drops in both ears to treat earaches and infections.

to use in honey: crush garlic cloves, place in mason jar of preferred size and fill with raw honey. allow to steep for at least 1 month. eat a spoonful as needed. the cloves can be eaten too.

rosemary: rosemary essential oil has been tested for use in effective against colon, breast and lung cancer with promising results. it is an antiseptic and is great in tea form. it can smooth the muscles of the digestive tract, helping to calm stomach cramps as well as menstrual cramps. as an infusion, it relieves digestive problems, relieves cold symptoms, and helps as an expectorant.

thyme: great for the respiratory system. thyme is excellent for coughs and sore throats. it has antiseptic and anti-fungal properties. it can be used externally as a wash to cleanse wounds. it makes a pleasant tasting tea and is helpful for bronchitis and whooping cough/pertussis. when our family was going through whooping cough this summer, a tea containing thyme was drank in copious amounts to help.

sage: a sage/salt water gargle for sore throats. it is also known as a diaphoretic which means it will increase perspiration. use with caution if breastfeeding as it can decrease the milk production (helpful if mama needs help with adjusting her milk flow though).

fennel, dill and anise seeds: great for digestive problems. seeds can be chewed before and after meals to help settle the stomach. a tea can be made and drank during meals to help with digestion as well.

lemons: an excellent form of vitamin c. a drink made from 1/2 lemon, 1 tablespoon of honey and 8 oz. of hot water helps to soothe a sore throat. when lots of mucus is present, oranges should not be eaten because they can increase the amount of mucus in the body. lemons provide a great source of vitamin c w/o increasing the mucus.

turmeric: excellent when used in a honey paste for sore throats.

turmeric/honey paste: mix equal amounts of honey and turmeric well and eat. i start with 1 teaspoon of each. after about 3 doses (usually taken w/in an hour) i have always had much relief. this is the first thing i reach for when my throat feels scratchy.

salt: add to water or herbal infusion to make a gargle for sore throats. heat in a pan on the stove and place in a handkerchief (tie opposite corners together tightly to keep salt from leaking out) and place on aching ear for extra soothing power when using garlic oil drops.

vinegar: herbs can be infused in vinegar and added to salads to help with calcium absorption. any herb can be used to increase health benefits as needed.

olive oil: infuse herbs by crushing herbs and adding with olive oil in a double boiler and slowly infusing over low heat for a few hours (or placing in a mason jar and setting in the sun for 2 or 3 weeks). oil can be used as a massage oil to relieve muscle cramps, rubbed on the stomach to relieve stomach cramps, ear drops to relieve ear aches, ear infections and swimmer’s ear (infused with garlic or onions) or combined with beeswax to make a salve.

honey: honey in itself has terrific medicinal powers. infusing herbs in it can make herbal medicine yummy, especially for little ones who aren’t so crazy about herbs. it can be made into a syrup by combining 1 part herbal infusion to 2 parts honey, warming briefly on the stove to combine and bottled. add 1/2 part brandy to help preserve and store in the refridgerator. pastes can be made by adding equal parts of honey and powdered herbs. adding more herb can make a dough that can be rolled into balls and and dried.

these are just a brief synopsis of herbs that you can find in your kitchen that can help with ailments. try googling some herbs in your cabinet by typing the word ‘medicinal’ and the herb to see what you can come up with. you will be amazed at what you can do with what you’ve got!