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!

One of my new goals for the year is to study one herb for the year. This does not mean I’ll be forsaking all others, I’ll still study and continue learning but this one herb will be my ally for the year. I spent a month thinking about which herb I would like to ally with this year and finally chose Prunella, or rather, she chose me!

Prunella, also known as Selfheal or Heal All, has been growing wild on our property since we’ve moved here. It was one of the first “new” wild herbs I discovered on our property. However, she’s always hovered in the lower back part of our land.

Last year, I dug up a few small plants and put them in the garden. I am sad to report they got tilled under due to my thoughtlessness. I do hope she forgives me for that! The answer came a few weeks later to that thought when I discovered she had planted herself right next to my back door in the hollyhock bed!

I believe she’s got something to tell me and I am going to listen.

I started a notebook to chronicle my journey with her. I have tincture made up so I’ll be digging that out and starting to use it whenever I can. Also, I’ll be making some oil and salve as soon as the time is right. I’ll be using her leaves in my morning teas and sketching her cycles of growth.

I started out researching her family (mint of course, also known as lamiaceae). Leaves are in pairs on the stems, each pair at right angles to the ones above/below. Flowers are typically fused, stems square. Yep! That’s just like Prunella!

I never referred to her by Prunella before, always Selfheal or Heal All but that always annoyed me because I could never settle on one of the two names. Well, which is it?! But last night, when I sat down to journal about her, it just felt right to call her by her proper name, Prunella. So lovely!

I am looking forward to hearing what this beautiful lady has to tell me.

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.

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!

borage! i had forgotten i tinctured up a half gallon of it a few months back. i decided to whip up 2 oz. with: borage, catnip, lemon balm and motherwort. when i poured off the borage i had to play with it as the color was an amazing jewel green. i would have taken a picture but the lighting was bad due to our (seemingly) permanently placed cloud cover. i’ll try again tomorrow if the clouds decide to shift away from the sun.

premilinary reports from this mama: feeling better! what did i name this lovely mixture? why, calm down! of course. i think my kids will be happy that i’m taking it tomorrow.

so, what am i babbling about? the traditions in western herbalism conference of course! registration just opened yesterday and the first 100 registrants can receive some great bonus gifts as well!

three days of immersion with great herbalists such as jim mcdonald, kiva rose, darcey blue french, john gallagher, phyllis light, paul bergner, matthew wood, rosemary gladstar, howie brounstein, and many, MANY more!

and, if that weren’t enough, R.I.S.E. and arborea are going to be performing!

AND, it’s at the beautiful ghost ranch, the former home of artist georgia o’keefe.

it’s an amazing opportunity for anyone who is dancing the herbal dance of life. will i see you there?

karen vaughan writes about the benefits of coffee and talks about mixing them with herbs

lisl writes all about chai and includes a recipe for her favorite blend

susan lubbers writes about waking up with a holy cuppa…holy basil!

darcey blue french shares her chocamatamatelatte recipe

kiva rose writes of the wild woodlands morning brew, with a combination of herbs that you might never have thought of trying

need a little caffeine in your morning ritual? try rosalee de la foret’s suggestions for black tea

my idea of a great caffeine free morning beverage: roasted root chai

aquarian bath’s secret to a great cup of earl grey tea

stephany shares some great recipes for all sorts of moods!

aartiana writes about her favorite morning infusions

during the late spring, summer and fall, my breakfast beverage generally consists of wandering around in the garden and picking a handful of whatever speaks to me. but once winter takes over, i must turn to my shelves for that morning cup. generally, i will do a combination of dried herbs or grab some mate or green tea. but when i want a real treat, i reach for the roasted root chai.

i can never make enough of this ahead of time to store for the winter! seems i’m always searching out more roots to keep myself stocked so i can blend a quart at a time…i should probably blend a half gallon! kids and adults alike gulp it down and request more, every time! this recipe will make about a quart of pre-mixed chai. this chai is caffeine free but you could add some green tea if you’d like a blast of caffeine.

roasted root chai
2 cups mixture: roasted dandelion roots, roasted chicory roots
6 Tbsp. fennel seeds
6 Tbsp. anise seeds
6 Tbsp. cardamom pods, gently broken up
6 Tbsp. whole cloves
4 Tbsp. dried ginger root
2 Tbsp. largely grated nutmeg (i buy it whole and use a cheese grater to grate it for this project instead of using the finer holed nutmeg grater)
3 – 4 tsp. black peppercorns
24 bay leaves, broken up
14 cinnamon sticks, broken up (a mortar and pestle works well for this)

blend the mixture in a bowl and pour into a quart jar to store.
to use, add 1 Tbsp. chai mix per cup water. simmer for 5 minutes then let steep for another 15 minutes.
add 1 Tbsp honey per cup and 2 Tbsp per cup of water. Stir, pour and serve!