Ashwaganda -Tasty Every Day Restorative Formulas

Ashwaganda (Withania somnifera) is by far one of the top herbs I have come to rely on in my work as a community clinical herbalist.  I generally look very closely at an individuals health history, constitution and long term health goals before suggesting any herb or practice, but time and time again, I have found so many  people, men and women of all ages, who immensely benefit from the rejuvenative and restorative properties of this root medicine.  Ashwaganda comes to us from the Ayurvedic tradition in India where it is known as a "rasayana" or that which restores, transforms, conserves and revitalizes energy of the body.  

In today's busy world how many of go walking around exhausted, half asleep, mentally foggy, in a constant state of adrenal stress, with sleep debt and often times not even on enough food/fuel.  I've seen numerous clients and friends in this state, and even myself more often than not- so busy they can't find time to eat, stay up late to finish work, drive long distances under stress, have too many responsibilities and tasks to accomplish and too little help, feel exhausted, drained, experience a loss of libido, sleep poorly, and have stressful and extreme mood swings.  Something is wrong with this picture.  This isn't living.  

First off, lifestyle changes and practices for managing stress, getting more sleep, eating properly all must be implemented to see positive and healthy changes in life.  For me lately, that is looking like taking a real hard, long look at exactly what I am capable of myself as one person, setting myself very specific time limits on work hours, making regular dates with friends to get outside, hike, or camp, taking regular walks and yoga breaks,  and asking for more help.  Each of us as individuals have to go through the processes of shifting our life-long habits that do not serve us or promote health and vitality, sometimes its often just a matter of learning a different way of doing things.

But on top of these sorts of changes, which are absolutely essential, during the process of making changes, and moving through transitions and challenging times- I have found this Ashwaganda to be an indespensible ally to many many people, myself included.  It supports people in evening out mood swings, restoring libido and sexual vitality, improves sleep quality, provides balanced energy throughout the day, without being overstimulating, provides nourishment to the blood (ashwaganda is extremely rich in iron) and the HPA axis  (hypothalamus pituitary adrenal axis- i.e. the endocrine system).  People begin to notice effects when they start taking ashwaganda almost immediately, within a week or two.  But the best results continue to show up as they continue taking ashwaganda for 3 - 6 months, or even longer.  Consistenly people come back to me to tell me how much ashwaganda helps them.

Most commonly people are using the tincture of the root, or occasionally buying standarized capsules in a health food store, but I'd like to share the ways I like to use Ashwaganda myself and with my clients that don't involve taking a tincture!     These are very nourishing and delicious ways to take ashwaganda, which isn't really the yummiest of herbs on its own.

Ashwaganda & Cinnamon Infused Milk
This is the most common way I reccommend Ashwaganda to people, and is truly a delight to enjoy!  Ashwaganda was traditionally given in milk and so I like to use this method- using what has worked for hundreds if not thousands of years.

1 tsp ashwaganda powder
dash of cinnamon to taste
1 cardamom pod, cracked
8-10 oz milk (dairy, goat, almond, coconut)
1 tbsp honey
1 pinch of sea salt
1 tsp ghee or coconut oil
1 tbsp rose gulkand, or dried roses ( alternatively 1 tsp rose water)  (OPTIONAL)

Warm the milk to just bubbling at the edges and add powders, herbs, oil and salt and mix thouroughly.  Reduce heat and warm 3-5 min longer.  Remove from heat, add honey, and whisk the whole pot vigourously until oil and honey are incorporated.

Serve hot and drink the roses, ashwaganda and cinnamon powder down with the milk.  This is an excellent preparation for your morning wake up drink, after making love/sex, for an afternoon pick me up, or any time you need extra nourishment and sweetness. I suggest once or twice a day.  If only, once you might wish to up the ashwaganda to 2 tsp.

Ashwaganda Electuary
1 pt Ashwaganda powder
1/8 pt cardamom seed powder
1/3 pt citrus peel powder (orange is my favorite)
2 pt Honey
(1/2 - 1 pt cacao powder) - optional

Mix powders together in a bowl and mix with enough honey to make a thick jam like paste.  It will thicken with time, so err on the side of runny.  Place this into a jar with a lid and store.  You can take this electuary by the spoonful, mix into tea, mix into smoothies, spread on toast, breakfast cereal, rice or in stewed fruit. Take 1 - 3 tsp daily.

Ashwaganda Syrup
1 cup ashwaganda root, dried pieces
1.5 qts water
1 pinch sea salt
2 cups honey or sugar
2- 4 oz brandy or ashwaganda tincture (optional)

Simmer and cook ashwaganda root in water for about an hour.  You want to simmer, not boil to death, but also evaporate some of the liquid as you are simmering, until you have about 16 oz of ashwaganda decoction.  Simmering to reduce helps to concentrate the decoction.  Strain the ashwaganda roots out of the decoction and reduce further if needed to 16 oz.  to the strained decoction add the same volume of honey or sugar and mix thouroughly by stirring, or shaking a covered jar.  Add 2-4 oz of brandy or ashwaganda tincture to preserve your syrup longer.  If you do not add alcohol, store your syrup in the fridge and use within 2 months.

Take up to 2 tbsp 2-3 times a day.
This recipe is not appropriate for those with blood sugar issues, diabetes or insulin resistance!  You may also find you want to add a pinch of cardamom, clove, or a vanilla bean to your syrup as it is cooling as well.


Restorative Nutritive Tea Blend
1 pt Ashwaganda root
2 pt nettles
1 pt cinnamon
1 pt tulsi basil
1/2 pt ginger
1/2 pt licorice root

Blend herbs well in a jar and store away from the light.  Use 1 tbsp per pint, or 2-3 tbsp per quart of hot water.  Steep tea for 1 hr or more, or alternatively, simmer gently, gently for 15 min, covered.  This blend taken daily will replenish the body with nutrients and minerals, reduce stress, improve digestion and taste good too.  This is lovely with a bit of honey taken in your thermos to work, school or on your daily errands. Up to 1 qt daily.  It's been described to me as gingerbread love in a cup.  Hey, that sounds pretty great huh?

If you don't have time to make your own ashwaganda preparation, I have a few special syrups left at PoppySwap which have Ashwaganda as a part of the formula.  Parvati's Devotion- Herbal Syrup for the heart, romance and self-love.    They have been a huge hit and I only have a couple left!

The Healing Balsam of Poplar Buds

It was downright springy today.  The sun was shining, the snow melting off the roof in a steady wet stream, puddles and mud expanding even more.  We've had enough above freezing days in a row that I felt it was time to go out and get some poplar buds.  The few I had gathered before were oozing their resin into the oil very nicely, and so I slugged on the snowshoes to go have a look.

Now I'm used to gathering poplar buds in the southwest, sometime in early februrary, usually the sun is warm, reflecting back from the sandy wash where the cottonwood trees grow.  It gets downright hot at times, but it was always very meditative work.  Working slowly from branch to branch, gathering a bud here or there, taking care never to strip one branch of all its buds.  If lucky, finding freshly fallen branches on the ground after a windstorm.

But I've never collected the buds in the snow.  I mean, the sun was out.  And it was reflecting back at me from the blinding white snow.  It was so warm that I had to shed my hat, and unzip all my layers.  But then came the differences.  Snowshoeing through the maze of Balsam Poplar saplings, Sumac trees, spiny raspberry canes and tangling low branches just at snow level (because the snow is probably still three feet in spots.  I tripped more than once, got smacked in the face a few times, slid down an embankment, and generally had to pay close attention to where I was going.

Harvesting poplar buds is slow work.  2.5 hours yielded only half a quart jar of sticky, fragrant buds.  But oh god the smell- warm, sweet, pungent, vanilla,  honey, plus something all its own.  Ever so much more fragrant than the Fremont cottonwood buds I am most familiar with.  Little droplets of resin hardened on the large, brown buds.  Fortunately, this land is blessed with an abundance of sapling sized Poplars, just the right size for a short herbalist to gather from the lower branches.

I was thinking as I gathered, what is the lesson of poplar buds?  Certainly she teaches a measure of patience.  I mean- you have to wait until JUST the right moment, when the days are warm enough to melt the sticky resin inside the buds, but nights are cold enough to freeze it solid on the outside of the buds.  You might go check on them, every week for a month, or more.  And then, there's the slow business of collecting the juicy sticky buds, one by one, buds sticking to your hands, for hours on end, to result in a small harvest.   Surely we will learn patience from our poplar tree friends.

But also, attention to detail. Small details.  Watch where you step, check each bud, pick one by one, add to the jar, observe each branch, never pick too many from one spot, listen for the next tree to call, pick out the tree by paying attention to the grey, furrowed bark on older trees or grey mottled bark on the saplings, with reddish twigs where the growth is new.  All of these with no leaves to give it away, and picking it out among the whitish-yellow bark of its relative, aspen, and the bare, yet hairy branches of the sumach.   You look up, and notice how big and juicy the buds on the poplar are.  Nothing on any of the other trees compares.  Notice the aspen buds in some places are already opening catkins!  See the pairs of birchkins high on the white birches, and how they blend in with the large poplar buds.  Where does one branch end, and another start, which tree is which.

Attention to minute details isn't my forte in the normal world.  I have little patience for things like that. I like generalities, patterns, flow.  But it is different with the plants.  They ask of us more than we would give in other situations.  So I give my full attention to all the details of gathering poplar buds.  And sink into a state of peace- for a short while, not thinking about how much other shit I have to get done today, how sad and overwhelmed I feel by everything right now.  Just be here, now, with the trees, and the sun, and the snow shine, and the birdsong.  Following the trail of the turkey tracks through the trees.  I wonder if turkey was checking out the poplars too, or perhaps lunching on fallen sumac fruit clusters.  "And don't forget to pay attention," says the branch that smacks my cheek with a crack, "Slow Down" says the bramble that grasps at my clothes.

Finally, thirst and hunger urge me back to the house, trudging through the now melted snow crust, where I pour olive oil over the fragrant sticky buds in the jar to infuse for their pain relieving, antiinflammatory, and stimulating properties.  I'll go back another time or two, and gather a little bit more before the buds open into leaves and catkins, perhaps tincturing some as a nice stimulant expectorant and bitter digestive stimulant as well.  But for now, satisfied coming home smothered in the fragrance of poplar balsam.

Discovering Herbalism :Classes in Avon, Maine

January 29-30, February 19-20, March 12-13, April 23-24, May 14-15

Summer and Autumn Dates TBA

$100 - $150/month, payment plans and thoughtful barter proposals will gladly be considered.

Sean Donahue and Darcey Blue French are offering an opportunity for beginning and intermediate herbalists to develop or deepen their relationships with the healing plants of New England through a series of weekend intensives at our home in Avon, ME.

Through lectures and discussions, readings, meditations, ceremony, and direct experience, participants will learn about:

* Listening to and learning directly from the plants themselves

* The art and ethics of wildcrafting

* Making herbal medicines

* Understanding the energetics of herbal medicine and of the human body

* Nourishing the body, mind, and spirit

* Therapies for chronic and acute injury and disease

* Working with plants in ceremony and magic

* Plant identification and Materia Medica

* Establishing herb gardens

For more information or to register, e-mail herbalists@brighidswellherbs.com

Floor space and limited couch or bed space will be available for those traveling. 

Breakfast will be provided.  Lunch and dinner will be potluck.

Healing Foods : Medicinal Mushroom Gravy

Yes, gravy!
Several weeks ago I had dinner with Margi Flint in Marblehead, MA and she made a lovely roast chicken stuffed with herbs, and a most delicious medicinal mushroom gravy.  So she gets credit for the idea, but here's my version that I made to dress our pork roast the other night.

Mushroom teas and extracts take a lot of work to prepare, and aren't always very delicious, but lucky for us Mushroom Harvest has a wonderful ready made, pre-cooked blend of 14 deeply healing medicinal mushrooms as a powder, ready to use in various ways.  Not only is it tasty (much like shitake in flavor- which it contains in spades), but very versatile and easy to use.

Here's the gravy that can be used for roasted veggies, roasted meats, potatoes, rice, or what ever you like gravy on.  Bonus is- it's gluten and dairy free!!


1 c roasted meat drippings
(or sub 1 cup of warm bone broth or seaweed broth and a couple of spoonfuls of fat of choice- butter, ghee, coconut, olive, lard)
3 tbsp cold water or broth
1 heaping tbsp 14 mushroom blend powder
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp tapioca starch
1-2 cloves crushed garlic
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients except cold water, egg yolk, and tapioca.  Warm until bubbling gently.
Mix tapioca starch, egg yolk and cold water in a cup until dissolved.  Pour slowly while stirring briskly into the bubbling gravy.
Gravy will thicken quickly.  Remove from heat and serve!



Delicious medicine fit for everyday table use!

(edited to add the suggested egg yolk. it is MUCH BETTER with egg yolk!!)

What an herbalist does on vacation...

I've decided that after a really frustrating week spending too much time on the computer, I had to spend some time on vacation. Yah.
So what did I do with my stay at home vacation day #1.

Yummy breakfast- scrambled eggs w/ CSA peppers, squash, onions, garlic and italian sausages.
A nice long walk outside. Seems like these days I don't get enough time outside to collect, forage and Identify new plants. So made a point of going out for a little foraging mission and relaxed walk. The air was cool, sun behind the clouds, and sweet breeze kept the mosquitos at bay (for a while anyway). I found a beloved friend whom I've never met in person, Lobelia Inflata. Of course I forgot to bring my field guide along, but I knelt down after she caught my eye, and mysteriously knew who she was. Who said plants don't talk! Maybe it was the little balloon-like seed pods, or the blue flowers, but I instinctively knew it was lobelia, and took a tiny taste of the leaf. Sure enough acrid and biting as hell...tastes like my good friend lobelia. (Later I positively ID'd a specimen I brought home with Newcomb's Wildflower Guide).

Then further up the trail I found the place where the sun breaks through the trees and the goldenrod is blooming a golden song all about the meadow, and set to picking some of the sweet scenting flowering fronds for tincture and oil. As she led me on, she took me to where the St John's Wort patch I've been waiting on all summer is FINALLY in full bloom. I spent a good while picking St John's Wort tops as well before heading home. Nothing like sweet golden plant friends to cheer a weary and gloomy herbalists heart.

Back at home, a quick lunch of cold chicken and cucumbers, smothered in homemade mayonnaise, and I went to town tincturing up my harvest.

Then, as I've signed up for the Preserving the Bounty Challenge from Nourished Kitchen, I set to work on making a batch of Apple Beet Relish! YUM!

It's so beautiful ruby colored sweetness...spiced with ginger, cinnamon stick, clove and cardamom...I Can't wait to try it! Plus its much fun to squish grated beets and apples and salt together into a pink luscious juicy mess!

I guess that might sound like a lot of work, but its a purely relaxing day for me. Now for a supper of baked stuffed zuchinni and homemade marinara!

The Sweet Taste of Life: A place for sweetness in the medicine cabinet and pantry

It's Blog Party time! Visit Kiva's blog for the rest of the contributions to this months blog party on sweet medicines!

Here's my exposition on the place for sweetness in our medicines and foods, and my "Sweet Melissa Divine" honey!

Who doesn’t enjoy the sweet taste of a special treat after supper, a little drizzle of honey in the evening cup of tea, or a morsel of sweet chocolate? It seems as if the sweet taste is irresistible to the human animal, and though will power and dedication can steer us away from indulging in sugary sweets daily that rot our teeth and lead us down the garden path of deteriorating health, there is still a craving for the sweet taste of fresh fruits and small indulgences that is natural to our taste buds.

Though I am the last person who will tell you that eating sugar is even remotely good for you, I want to explore how the sweet taste can mean so much more than “sugar” to our body, mind and spirit. Most traditional medical systems, including Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine and Unani Tibb reserve a place in the therapeutic toolbox for medicines and foods of a sweet nature. Yes, that is correct, the sweet taste DOES have a therapeutic value, and many traditional systems have recognized it and put it to work for thousands of years.

Both TCM and Ayurveda have a classification of the five or six primary tastes, which include sweet, sour, salty, acrid/pungent, bitter, and astringent. According to these systems the body must receive all the tastes on a daily basis to maintain balance. Too much of one or not enough of another can tip the scales in an unwanted direction. This is easily seen by the excess of sweet tastes in the modern SAD diet, and the resulting problems with obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes.

According to TCM, the sweet taste is warming, strengthening, harmonizing, relaxing and moistening. It builds up energy and strengthens spleen qi, nourishes body fluids and is associated with the energy of yang and earth. Too much of sweet flavor can produce dampness, obesity, and weakness in the kidneys, teeth and bones. In Ayurveda the sweet taste is used to pacify excess pitta and vata conditions (excess heat, dryness, or ungroundedness). It builds and restores the water element and ojas (life force/vitality). It represents the qualities of love nourishment and sustenance.

In a sense, the sweet flavor is the primary taste that provides nourishment and the building of energy both in the body and the mind. It is important to remember that the six tastes effect the spirit and mind just as much as they do the body, and the sweet taste will nourish the heart and spirit, build strength and energy of heart and spirit, and calm states of deranged pitta or vata (think bouts of anger, emotional upset, ungroundedness, bitterness, dryness or lack of luster and verve for living.) It’s not a surprise then that we crave sweet foods to console ourselves in times of emotional upset, or to soothe sensations of physical weakness, or deprivation. We must also remember that as much digestion as our stomach, spleen, liver and intestines do, our minds also digest myriad forms, thoughts, ideas, events and emotions on a daily basis. It is just as important to fill the mind with healthy, nourishing thoughts and emotions, and that our mind be able to digest well that which we provide it. The sweet taste is not to be reviled in our quest to shun refined white sugar which harms our health, but must be used with respect in appropriate fashion to nourish our minds with the sweetness of life, and nourish our bodies with strength and energy.

There are many foods which qualify as “sweet” that are completely unrelated to sugar, honey, syrup or candies. I generally recommend using the following foods as our main sources of “sweetness” on a daily basis.

Fruits (often of mixed flavor with sour, or astringent)

Nuts/seeds

Whole grains

Meats

Dairy products

Winter squashes and other starchy vegetables

But there is a time and a place for sweet medicines and you will often find traditional formulas from ayurveda or TCM with raw sugar, honey or syrup added as an important player, either as a corrigent or as an active component. For example, rose gulkand, a very cooling, soothing food to pacify pitta (especially in hot, dry summer months) is made primarily with rose petals and jaggery (raw cane sugar). Many herbal formulas are administered in honey and ghee, i.e. Chavawanprash- a complex rejuvenative formula.

All that said, let’s dive into the sweetest, loveliest of sweet medicines I’ve been creating lately, herbal honey!

Honey is one of my favorite methods of administering herbal medicines, and I often mixed powdered herbs into a jar of honey for a sweet easy to take honey herb paste. This is much like the Ayurvedic herbal jam Chavawanprash, which combines herbs, honey, and ghee. These can be spread on crackers, fruit, or eaten off the spoon. Honey itself is considering warming, moistening (demulcent/emollient), and rejuvenative/nutritive. It is full of nutrients, enzymes and other health promoting compounds aside from the sugar content. Honey is used to bring herbal medicines deeper into all the tissues of the body.

My favorite way to use honey medicinally is to steep fresh aromatic medicinal herbs in raw, local honey for a week or so and infuse it with all the properties of the herbs. These medicinal honeys can be used as a dressing for wounds and burns, as herbal syrup, stirred into hot or cool water for a refreshing drink, mixed in tea, or even used as a beauty treatment (there is something lovely and luscious about smearing honey all over your face as a hydrating, soothing face mask. Or anywhere else for that matter!)

The most recent herbal honey I’ve made is a fresh lemon balm in mesquite honey, and it is a lovely, divine elixir. I think I’m going to call it “Sweet Melissa Divine” in honor of the plant, the bees that made the honey, and the Bee Priestesses called Melissa in The Fifth Sacred Thing. This summer elixir will be put too good use as an antiviral wound dressing, a sweetener for fresh lemonade, as a mood brightening sweet treat to dress fruit, berries, or fresh yogurt. In light of the mood lifting and soothing properties of the sweet flavor, and the sweet uplifting spirit of Melissa officinalis, this honey will be a perfect remedy for a mild case of the winter blues, Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), insomnia, stagnant depression and mild anxiety.

Sweet Melissa honey  has also found its way into a magical and delicious potion called Sweet Melissa Divine Elixir- a stunning and remarkably effective combination of the lemon balm infused honey and a full strength fresh plant lemon balm tincture.  This sweet medicine is delicious, easy to take, and excellent for soothing those grumpies in adults and children alike.  My partner Sean likes to use it at summer music festivals in cases of heat exhaustion.   No complaints with this tasty medicine!  It's a treat for everyone! I have a few of these available in my Etsy shop if you would like to get your hot little hands on one!

Sweet Melissa Elixir @ Etsy.com

Other favorite herbal honeys include rose, lavender, rosemary, bee balm monarda, and peppermint. I have a hankering to make St Johns Wort honey, but alas, I live in a land nearly devoid of fresh St Johns Wort, so will have to save it for another year.

Making herbal honeys is quite simple. Many times I’ve read to heat the honey, but heating raw honey too hot can destroy the properties, so I choose to cold process my herbal honeys.

1 pint jar

1 pint honey (raw and local if you can find it)

Enough herb of your choice to fill the jar full (do not pack it too tight, just loosely full)

Chop the herb finely and add to the jar. Pour honey over the herb until well covered, you may use a little less or a little more honey depending on the herb. Stir the concoction well with a spoon or chopstick to ensure all the herb bits are coated in honey. Put a lid on and set in a warm spot for 1-2 weeks. You may put it in the sun if it isn’t too hot.

After the allotted time (and several taste tests between putting it up and now), you may choose to strain the herbs from the honey using a wire mesh strainer. Hopefully your honey is relatively runny and warm from the summer climate and can be poured reasonably. If it isn’t, you may need to GENTLY warm it to thin it out. I recommend a hot water bath for just a few minutes. Reserve the honey in a special jar with a label. Eat the herbs! Or rub them on your body for an instant hydrating herbal scrub.

Use the honey generously and as often as you need to nourish the sweetness of life in your spirit and body.

Sources:

Chinese Nutrition Therapy, Joerg Kastner

Ayurveda: The Devine Science of Life, Todd Caldecott

Ayurveda: the Science of Self Healing, Vasant Lad

Weedy and Wonderful: The Healing Medicine of Evening Primrose

Oneothera biennis, O. hookeri

Flor de San Juan

Evening Primrose

Evening primrose is yet another one of our beautiful healing herbs that has been somewhat forgotten and definitely pigeon-holed by the supplement industry and herbal commerce. Evening Primrose Seed Oil, well known in the stores, is a source of gamma linoleic acid (GLA), a fatty acid useful for skin problems, asthma, PMS and menopause. But Evening Primrose is so much more than that, and sadly, is extremely underused, while being abundant and widespread across climates and bioregions. It even grows here in the desert. There are many species of Oneothera that grow in my bioregion, some of which grow low to the ground in small mounds, but the ones I use medicinally, are the more upright variety, including O. biennis, the weedy species found anywhere the ground is moist and disturbed. I start noticing the large branching plants with yellow flowers around 4500 ft, on the sides of mountain roads, and into drainages and riparian areas. It grows easily as a perennial in the garden as well, but in the wild I most often find it near water (considering that water is the limiting factor in the desert environment). For years I’ve collected the root of the first year plants as a wild edible, boiled and eaten like a turnip. It has a peppery taste that some find unpleasant, but I rather enjoy. The leaves can also be eaten as a green, but I found them less palatable, considering they are slightly hairy, and also have a peppery taste. I’ve also spent time in the winter collecting the fibrous bark from the dead stems to make cordage, which is silky, fine and smooth. This is the first year I’ve really explored the uses of Oenothera as a medicine, but I am sure glad I have. It is proving to be invaluable, and a very good locally growing substitute for some common herbs that just aren’t that common round here.

Energetics: Moist, neutral temperature, taste: bitter, pungent, sweet, astringent

Reduces/pacifies Vata, Pitta

Actions: Relaxant, stimulant, nervine, tonic, vulnerary, demulcent, astringent, diaphoretic, diuretic, antispasmodic

Uses: Evening Primrose is a gentle and mild medicine, but despite its mild nature, it is extremely effective. These are the best kinds of plant medicines, in my opinion; safe, non toxic, abundant, nourishing and effective. The following information is based on the use of the whole plant; leaf, flower, bud, seed pod, root, stem, not the seed oil found in the health food stores. Being underused as it is, I highly suspect you won’t ever see an Evening Primrose tincture on the shelf, so gather your own, or get it from your local herbalist.

I use Evening Primrose as an antispasmodic for smooth muscle tension and spasm. It has been one of the most effective plant medicines I have used for lessening the pain of mild to moderate dysmenorrhea (menstrual cramping). It is not the strongest of antispasmodics, but so far, in my experience, much more reliable than some of the others I’ve used through the years. It is specifically useful when there is a sensation of pelvic fullness, with some congestion of the lymphatic or portal system. Along with the smooth muscles of the uterus, Evening Primrose’s antispasmodic action is exquisitely useful in the respiratory system, when there is a dry, spasmodic cough accompanying bronchial infection or irritation, or mild asthma and hay fever or seasonal allergies. While gently calming the spasmodic tendency of a cough and the respiratory musculature, the demulcent property of the leaves and flowers, soothes cools and moistens dry and irritated tissues. Likewise, it is useful the gastrointestinal tract for the same reasons, soothing and moistening to a hot, inflamed GI tract, while easing the spasmodic cramping associated with conditions like IBS, gall bladder spasm, colitis and general poor digestive function. Evening primrose is also a lovely vulnerary wound healing ally, useful both externally for bruises, swellings, burns, and venomous insect bites and stings, hemorrhoids and internally for healing that irritated GI tract that goes along with leaky gut, ulcers, colitis, and diverticulitis. According to King’s, Evening Primrose is also applicable to any condition in which the Peyer’s patches (gastrointestinal lymph glands) are inflamed, and gastrointestinal lymphatic congestion (in the spleen or mesentery). This leads me to believe it will be helpful in addressing the inflammation, lymphatic bloating, leaky gut, and general digestive malaise associated with undiagnosed or mismanaged food allergies, particularly to such foods as gluten containing grains (wheat, rye, spelt, barley, kamut etc), dairy products, corn or soy. It is specifically indicated when there is a tendency to nausea or vomiting after eating, digestive upset accompanied by restlessness, and a frequent desire to urinate. According to King’s Evening primrose is also of use in cases of watery diarrhea, dysentery and bloody stools, another plus for its use in conditions like ulcerative colitis, hemorrhoids, and diarrhea associated with food allergy, poor food choices, and deranged digestive function. Evening Primrose affects all the mucus membrane tissues, lungs, GI tract, skin and the bladder and kidneys. Traditional Hispanic use in the southwest is for spasm in the bladder and kidneys, and I find it to be useful as a demulcent, astringent tonic for irritated tissues of the urinary tract, either during an infection, or over sensitized tissues post infection.

Evening Primrose is also a fine relaxant nervine, especially useful with muscle tension secondary to emotional tension. A hot cup of evening primrose infusion, for me personally, is akin to taking a hot bath. I feel completely relaxed. It strongly affects the musculoskeletal tissues; I sat on the bed after my cup of infusion, not really having the desire to move. Tension had left, muscles were relaxed, and a gentle diaphoresis resulted from the relaxation of the tissues, allowing circulation to flow towards the surface. This is excellent for folks who are stressed out, hold the tension in their body and look like they might flip their lid, or in the stages of fever where tension is preventing a good sweat. Unlike Vervain which tends to relax the area around the shoulders and neck, Evening Primrose relaxes the musculature of the entire body.

I also found it quite useful for the pre-menstrual emotional moodiness that comes a day or so before my menses. I get particularly reclusive, not wanting to talk, or interact with people much; and if forced to, it makes me quite cranky, irritable and bordering on weepy at times. This month, a public talk I had scheduled months in advance, happened to fall on that day I was feeling especially unable to communicate effectively or interact with others in a sensible fashion. Uh oh. A few doses of Evening Primrose tincture several times before leaving the house, and a few minutes before the actual event seemed to calm my nerves enough that I was able to put a smile on my face and speak clearly and engagingly to a room of strangers. It certainly didn’t make me chatty and extra friendly, but allowed me to perform the duty necessary without too much inner turmoil or crankiness. Thank goodness for that! As I have a tendency to social anxiety, I’m going give this a whirl for the anxiety I experience around those situations, and see if I can’t work through some of my fears by facing them with the support of a friendly plant ally.

Kiva Rose equates evening primrose with the nourishing nervine properties of Avena, and suggests it be added to our list of nourishing infusions, as the nervine effects are cumulative and especially effective used over time, as most tonic herbs are. Also in its favor are its mild energetics, neither too heating nor cooling, and moistening, it is suitable for most constitutions over a long period of time, unlike nettles which can be too drying for some folks when used over time.

Preparations: My favorite way to use Evening Primrose, so far, is as an infusion in hot water. My personally physiology responds much better to the large quantities of herbal medicines administered in tea form, and the long steeped infusion of Evening Primrose leaf, flower, bud, and stalk is distinctly demulcent, which is primarily extracted in water based preparations. Water is also superior at extracting the nourishing mineral and vitamin content of herbs in general. A long infusion (4 hrs or more) of Evening Primrose is most effective when dealing with the mucous membrane tissues of the GI tract, respiratory tract, urinary tract. I also find the infusion effective for menstrual cramping, more so than the tincture. Use the infusion for longer term nerve nourishing/tonifying. The hot infusion is also suitable for use in a tense, hot, dry fever.

Tinctures are useful medicines as well, though my personal work with the herbs is centering more and more on non alcohol preparations. Fresh plant Evening Primrose tincture is perhaps a stronger antispasmodic for cramping, spasm and asthma attacks than the tea, and has very nicely effective and quick results for nervous tension, anxiety, and PMS grouchies. Use the tincture as well, if on the go, traveling or otherwise unable to use the infusion/tea.

Use either the tincture or the infusion as a wash, compress, or liniment topically for burns, insect bites and stings, bruises, swellings, hemorrhoids and the like.

A fresh plant poultice of the leaves and flowers is also an excellent way to use the herb topically, if you happen to be standing near the Primrose patch when you get stung by a bee, a spider, a caterpillar or have been outside too long with sunburn.

You can also make infused oil with the flowers, buds, leaves, root and stem for topical use, and I suspect it would make a very nice addition to massage oils for tense, spastic muscles, and would use it profusely for bruises and injuries with swelling, or for irritated hemorrhoids. I caution against using oils and salves on burns, especially fresh burns. If you get burned, first remove heat from the area with cool soaks, compresses, liniments, and then as the burn ages and you want to encourage healing, reduce peeling, and pain, then turn to the oils, applied lightly.

You can also collect the tiny black seeds from the seed pods in the fall and use them as a GLA supplement by grinding and storing in another EFA type oil (fish, flax etc). Or storing whole (preferably cool) and grinding as needed on a daily basis and adding the seed meal to foods; smoothies, hot cereal, fruit salads, nut butter etc.

Sources:

Personal experience

Michael Moore, Medicinal Plants of the Mountain West

Blog posts by Kiva Rose at Bear Medicine Herbals

personal correspondence with Kiva Rose

Felter and Lloyd's Kings American Dspensatory

Cool, calm and collected with Roses

Last months blog party was on staying cool in summer heat, and I wasn't able to put anything together in time, but we've been having a bit of a heat wave in the Northeast this past week or two and I've been turning to Rose to keep the heat from rising too much!

Rose, besides being sweet smelling, heart soothing and settling to emotional frights and upsets, is a wonderful cooling remedy. Roses gently move blood, are slightly bitter, astringent, antiinflammatory, nervine and nourishingly rich in vitamins, minerals and bioflavanoids.

I always turn to rose for burns. Sunburns respond amazingly quickly to an application of rose vinegar diluted in water. I've also used a rose tincture applied similarly with great results. I also turn to rose for cooling and calming red inflammed and damaged skin- either on the face or elsewhere- heat rash, red and painful chaffed skin, cold sores, and the delicate skin of the face in rosacea or general sun damage. Rose tea, rose tincture, rose vinegar, rose hydrosol, rose infused oil, and rose otto all work well in these cases. I choose the preparation that is both convienently close by, and appropriate for the situation at hand. i.e. tea or vinegar as a compress for heat rash, oil for damaged skin or inflammed dry rashes, hydrosol to cool and calm.

I use Rose tincture diluted in a saline solution as an eyewash that offers quick relief and healing from burning, redness, itchiness, or in removing a particle of something in the eye. Rose eyewash works really well for the unfortunate experience of hot burning chile pepper/cayenne in the eyes! Just make sure to strain the solution well through a coffee filter to avoid putting more particles in the eye. I dilute 30 drops of tincture in 1 oz of saline solution (1/2 tsp non iodized salt in 8 oz water), and use an eye cup, or a shot glass, or just use a clean dropper to rinse and irrigate the eye. You can also use rose hydrosol for this.

But lately, as I've been dealing with the hot, sticky humid New England heat wave, rose has made its way into my daily routine in the following ways.

After a sticky, hot walk outside I drink a glass of cool water with a splash of rose hydrosol. Yum! you can also add a spoonful of rose petal honey to this to make it a bit sweeter. Some days I add a generous splash of rose petal elixir to the mix as well. Feel free to mix and match to what suits you. If you like the taste you can also make a rose vinegar and rose honey mix to add to your water.

I frequently mist my face, neck, chest and back with a blend of rose tea, rose vinegar, and rose hydrosol mixed in a mister bottle. You can add a drop of rose otto, lavender essential oil, or peppermint essential oil if you like.

After a cool shower I massage my skin with a rose infused and scented oil- honestly I can't say how directly cooling the oil massage is, but it feels so beautiful after a cooling shower, and heart nourishing- do it just to love yourself. Anoint your heart with rose.

Include rose petals- either fresh or dried in your daily infusions. This can be very astringent and drying, so take note of how much rose you use, and if you are already dry and dehyrated or live in a dry/hot climate, you might consider adding a demulcent like marshmallow root to the infusion as well.

I like to use the fragrant wild roses for most of my medicinal preparations, but note that unsprayed cultivated roses and the wild multiflora rose which is less fragrant still make wonderful cooling medicines - as vinegars, elixirs, infused honey and tea.

Wild Medicine Intensive - June 26- 27 2010

This class needs a few more people to sign up for it in order to run, so if you are on the fence, now is the time to take action! Please share this information with anyone you know who would be interested.
This class is happening at Great Hollow Wilderness School. Great Hollow is a special piece of land with 800+ acres of wild forest, wetland, meadow, stream and garden habitats in New Fairfield, CT. You wouldn't believe the quantities and varieties of medicinal and edible plant allies growing there. You won't want to miss this opportunity!

In addition there are 4 more herbal classes being offered this summer! Check them out!

Advanced cash only materials fee and $25 deposit is required. 10% discount for multiple classes.
For information call Great Hollow Wilderness School 203-746-5852
Great Hollow is a program of the Regional YMCA of Western CT

WILD MEDICINE INTENSIVE

Join Herbalist, Wildcrafter and plant lover Darcey Blue French for a weekend intensive learning to identify, harvest, and turn our wild, local medicine plants into useful medicines to stock the pantry! Learn how to make tinctures, elixirs, syrups, honeys, oils, linaments, salves, teas, decoctions, poultices and compresses. Explore the best times to use which type of medicine and also unique ways to use plant medicine including medicinal smudging, herbal bathing and more! This workshop will combine time in the outdoors learning about the plants we will be using and harvesting in their natural environment, along with time in the kitchen concocting herbal potions and medicines, and learning about how to process and store the plants. No previous herbal experience required, just an open mind and a willingness to get up close and personal with the plants. Supplies provided. Materials fee 25$ Class Fee: $125

Summer Herbal Healing Classes in SW Conneticut!

For all my New England plant friends, I'm offering the following herbal classes at Great Hollow Wilderness School in New Fairfield, CT this summer! The first is next weekend, but there is still time to sign up! Please register with Great Hollow directly and spread the word to anyone interested in learning about herbal medicine. Perfect for beginning and intermediate students!



Wild Medicine Intensive ~ June 26 & June 27
During this weekend intensive learn to identify, harvest and turn our wild local medicinal plants into useful remedies to stock the pantry. Fee: $125; materials fee: $25

Talking with Trees ~ July 17
In this day-long exploration of the Tree Nation, learn about trees in their natural habitats; explore folklore and tree symbolism; medicinal uses of various parts of trees and harvesting and preparation of tree medicines.
Fee: $62.50; materials fee $15


Flower Essences ~ July 18
Spend a day among the flowering plants of New England. Learn the techniques for making your own Flower Essences, the energetic medicine of the flower. Fee: $62.50; materials fee $15

The Herbal Kitchen ~ July 24
Explore your pantry! Learn about the spices and ingredients you already have at home and how they can be used to make effective home remedies for your family. Fee: $62.50; materials fee $15

Intensive Medicinal Plant Walk – July 25
Explore our forests, fields, rivers and gardens and learn about the medicinal, edible and functional uses of New England native plants and common weeds. Fee: $62.50


Advanced cash only materials fee and $25 deposit is required. 10% discount for multiple classes.
For information call Great Hollow Wilderness School 203-746-5852
Great Hollow is a program of the Regional YMCA of Western CT


Thanks and please spread the word!

Herbal Lemonade: A new way to enjoy your herbal infusions

Today I made lavender lemonade. It is a warm early summer sunday, and I was craving a refreshing and relaxing tonic, so out came the herbs and I concocted Lavender lemonade.
Everyone loves a glass of lemonade, and what better way to enjoy your herbal infusions in summer! This will work with almost any aromatic herb you may want to use. But even other non aromatic herbs make a lovely lemonade base.
I like to use such herbs as Lavender, Rose, Mint, Lemon Balm, Tulsi, Rosemary, Lemon Verbena, Birch, Hibiscus, Schisandra, Violet flowers, Elderberry or Elderflower, Hawthorn, St Johns Wort, Nettle and Marshmallow.

To start you will want to make sure you have plenty of fresh lemons, local raw honey, fresh water and herbs on hand. The following proportions make approximately 1 gal of lemonade. Adjust to taste and your needs.

1 qt strong herbal infusion - Boil 1 qt water, and pour over herbs in a glass jar. Make sure you make it strong enough for the flavors to come through in the lemonade. For lavender- 1 c dried lavender flowers for a 1 qt of infusion. Best to let these sit for 30 min or more, depending on your herb choice. 4-6 hrs is better for hardier herbs like fruits, roots or barks, or if you want to take advantage of mineral rich infusions of nettle or oatstraw. Always cover aromatic infusions to keep the flavors in the infusion!

4 lemons- Juice four fresh lemons. I like to use a citrus juice reamer, but other juice squeezers or your hands work well. Catch the seeds in a mesh strainer.

1/2- 1 cup raw honey- I like to use raw honey as a sweetener. Yes it will still have the effects of sugar on the body, and may not be appropriate for all people. You can use stevia if you wish, to sweeten and avoid sugar. Or use a little honey and little stevia. Experiment with how sweet you like it.

3 qts Clean cool water

In a gallon container, strain your herbal infusion, add your honey or stevia and mix well. Add juice of 4 lemons, and fill to the top with additional water. Cool, and serve with a garnish of sliced lemon!

Try this with limes too- mmmm minty limeade!