Kitchen Witch

Gummy, Glorious Grindelia

I admit it, I am showing off: my Mulleins are the biggest around! (insert bad joke here...) That's level ground right there, which makes the Mullein several feet above my head! (And I'm 5 foot 8!)

Speaking of lung herbs (I've got some fast segue ways today, eh!)-- the smoke left Nevada County for three blissful days, only to come poking its head around again this afternoon. Yech! Luckily I've been making up some very potent lung medicine-- my friend Grindelia, or Gumweed, is in full bloom.

Grindelia likes to grow in--well, CRAPPY is the word for it-- soil. The more disturbed, rocky, neglected, the better! You can get a good idea from this picture here what Grindelia considers a happy home-- she's growing in the triangular patch in the middle!:



This tough herb is best harvested on a scorching summer day, when the centers of her yellow flowers are filled with a gooey, sticky substance that is only slightly less tacky than sap. Grindelia's medicine is easy to remember, because if you get sick and end up with lungs that are filled with stringy, sticky, gooey stuff that's hard to cough up, she is the plant ally you want to turn to! Kind of gross, I know, but you won't forget her now... (And I should add that if your lungs are filled with yellow or green stuff, you better get your butt to a professional STAT!)

Grindelia is a plant that was used by Indigenous North Americans, in a typically multi-dimensional fashion. According to my teacher Karyn Sanders (a Native Choctaw) of The Blue Otter School of Herbal Medicine, Grindelia has applications not just for lung issues, but for various problems of the urinary tract and the nervous system. It is also a popular ingredient in topical Poison Oak remedies, where it is used for its drawing and drying qualities.



Thick, resinous material like the goo in these flower heads doesn't break down in water, so I used nearly full-strength 190 proof organic grape alcohol as my menstrum. (Now I will reveal the embarrassing fact that I desperately need to get more mason jars, by showing you my medicine in a jar that has already lived at LEAST three lives. Give me points for conserving resources, at least!)



Isn't that a gorgeous color??? I am excited to make a combo of Grindelia, Mullein, and Yerba Santa. I wonder what my fourth herb will be? Making formulas is so exciting! There is always a high demand for my lung medicine in the fall and winter, and I love the feeling that this medicine will be making its way into many grateful hands. Speaking of grateful hands (ha ha! Another witty segue way! aren't I fresh?) check out the treasure that I'm holding here: yes, it's the one and only Zou Zou!



Happy harvesting!

Sasha

Medicine Making Party!

One of the particular blessings of Nevada County, California, is our amazing community of herby-minded folk. This Saturday a friend invited Amber and I to come and make medicine from her fabulous garden. And when I say fabulous... dearest readers, I do not exaggerate!:





Now that we are all twitching with jealousy, let me reassure you that Jaime, the mistress of this garden, fully deserves this blessing. She has one of the biggest hearts in Nevada City-- she's the kind of groovy lady that always gives you a hug when you see her, and colicky babies coo and giggle in her arms. You just know the kind of woman I am talking about! Here she is with a portion of the bounty:



Here are some pretty pictures to whet your appetite, starting with our friend Borage. You may know the old herbalist's ryhme, "Borage for Courage"! This is a trick to remember that Borage flowers, energetically speaking, lift up and strengthen the heart, readying it for the daring feats of courage required in everyday life. On the physical level, they tone the adrenal glands; aid in treatment for depression; and are used in diaphoretic (sweat-inducing) teas to break fevers. Borage flowers are also used for increasing mother's milk, and in some PMS formulas. More often they end up as delicious edible flowers (make sure the fuzzy part stays behind!) in summer salads and drinks. These babies are small and sweet, and if you have the patience to gather enough for a really significant amount of medicine, I applaud you! As for me, I usually just eat my fill right there in the garden... but I AM part goat, after all.



Vites, getting ready to flower! See my detailed post about Vitex here...



A genuine Fairy Garden, indeed:







Amber, hard at work harvesting:



You wonder how I could concentrate at all! Everything seemed to be calling to me on this sunny July day. First of all, this wall of Hops stopped me in my tracks:



We learned that these are a very special variety of Hops, dearly beloved in German beer brewing for purposes of flavor and aroma. Now I must apologize to the Alewives among you, I didn't write down their (German) name! Maybe that's because I was in a heady stupor from handling these sweet green flowers. They were in full perfect bloom and potent.. whew! ...potent.



Hops are used for-- maybe you have guessed this already-- relaxation. Tea or tincture works great internally, and Amber loves to use an infused oil of Hops on her toddler in the evening, and for pain relief. And yes, part of that beer buzz may be more than just the alcohol! If there's Hops in your brewskie, you are feeling her soporific effects.

Honestly, this is the first year I have really connected with Hops. I was inspired to pick and pick and pick until we had nearly a half of a grocery bag full. When no one was listening (very important!) I made up a medicine song for Hops, which goes something like this:

We are the ones who send you off to sleep
Life is uncertain, but this promise we will keep
For when you sleep, you are made anew
And when you dream, all good magic comes to you.

I look forward to the day when Disney makes an animated movie about a Green Witch. Heck, maybe I'm gonna have to make it myself!



(The shoe is NOT part of the medicine, by the way.)
Now I was pretty well looped after 45 minutes of handling sleepy Hoppy flowers, but I had another mission: the gorgeous Red Raspberry leaves. A traditional tonic during pregnancy, Red Raspberry is said to "strengthen" and "soften" the womb, making for an easy delivery. If you don't believe me, ask any Mamma who had one pregnancy WITH Red Raspberry, and one WITHOUT. The "Old Wives" passed this one down and it's a goodie!

Now I'm not on that baby train , and I admit that I may have ignored Red Raspberry because I considered her part of the whole pregnancy matrix. But standing in Jaime's garden, I had a "duh" moment. I'd done an herbal tarot reading the day before, and gotten Red Raspberry. Playfulness, Creativity, the Inner Child. The womb is nothing less than the center of our creativity, whether you've got a bun in the oven or not. Duh. I am having a creative Renaissance-- devouring Fantasy literature; writing down my (very vivid) dreams every morning; nurturing the seeds of my business (a vision forming from the ether, somehow involving herbs, writing, and this good old Interweb)-- Duh!

I love you, Duh. (:



I finished off my harvest with Strawberry leaves. I decided to combine them with the Raspberry on a kind of hunch... I have often heard of their value as a mild tummy tea; as a vitamin C-rich infusion; and as a topical treatment for irritated skin... but occasionally one does read that Strawberry leaf is used as Woman's medicine. VERY occasionally, but... I was feeling their call!



So what does a medicine-making party look like? Well, luckily, Jaime has a really wide countertop!:



I hereby give you all permission to clutter things up and make a royal mess!

Happy hands at work:





Smudge stick by Jaime, woven with Lavender, Mugwort, Helichrysum, and love:



Amber does quick work! Here are some of her concoctions:



On the way over to the party, I passed a liquor store, and was inspired to stop and buy a bottle of Bombay Sapphire Gin. When I do have an "adult beverage", this is my drink of choice. Once upon a time, it was actually a medicine, and the herbs that are in it (today, in trace amounts) are embossed on the side of the bottle! I was hoping I would find a plant that called to me to make a Gin extract. It turned out that my nose loved the smell of the Hops with Juniper-y tartness of the Gin. And I love it SO much, in fact, that I keep popping open my mason jar every night to take a little spoonful... so much for waiting a month for the medicine to "put up". But I'm sure the Gin has already extracted a lot of goodness from the Hops, and at least it's being used! Irresistible!

I dried a good amount of the Red Raspberry and Strawberry leaves for use in infusion... in fact, they're ready to go. Things dry really fast in our low-humidity climate-- that means both Herbs AND my Celtic skin-- but you can't have it all!

Lastly, I made a Women's Blend using some Damiana and Peach-infused brandy as the menstrum ("menstrum"= the liquid you tincture your herbs in). This had been languishing, unused, in my fridge-- I'd always felt like this potion needed an extra dimension. Well, the magical garden provided it! I filled the jar with Red Raspberry Leaf, Mugwort, and Lavender, to make a tincture that will

A. Get You In League With The Moon (Mugwort),
B. Get You In The Mood (Damiana),
C. Smell Divine (Lavender),
and D. Taste Sassy (peaches and brandy).

...I can't wait til the flavors and magics marry...!

Thanks to Jaime, for sharing her herb harvest with us! And thanks to Nature, the Artful Lady who makes it very easy to take good pictures:





STOP THE PRESSES: This just in from Yahoo news!:

AP - Pope Benedict XVI says the world's natural resources are being squandered by "insatiable" consumption and urges people to care more for the environment.

I never thought I'd see the day! Makes me think of the Dar Williams song about the Christians and the Pagans sitting down to Solstice/Christmas dinner together. (Tears. I'm a sucker.) And on that hopeful note...

xoxoxo

Sasha

Sunshine In a Jar: St. John's Wort Tincture

All week long I have been hearing "St. John's Wort" on everyone's lips. Folks at lower elevations have already put their medicine up, and proudly tell me "we'll be happy at our house all winter!" and "my fingers were stained red for three days!"

Well today the moon is almost new (I like to make medicine on the waxing moon, or as close as possible) and the St. John's Wort in shady Frog Holler is at a perfect stage for harvest: about one third in bloom, two thirds in bud. Yum! Now I don't have a ton of this sunny herb in my garden, but I have about ten times more than I did when I moved in. I attribute that to good watering, weeding, and focusing my love and attention on the St. John's plant community-- plants really respond well when someone cares about them!

There is another patch of St. John's on the property, and after I've taken my harvest from my garden, me and Zouzou go on a short journey through the woods to check it out:



Passing through the "gate" of Elder to get to our destination:





Here it is... we call it, fondly, "St. John's Meadow":



And here's why:



They're not getting nearly as much water as my St. John's in the garden, so they are shorter and tend to be single-stemmed instead of bushy. But since they have to fight a little harder to survive, their medicine is sure to be strong!



I cut the flower tops and about an inch of the stem. St. John's spreads mainly by it's root system, but I always leave at least half of the flowers to go to seed, and for the bees to enjoy:



I cut the plant material up right inside the jar, for convenience-- and also because my hubby is busy in the kitchen at this moment!:



As I harvest, I make up a little song for the St. John's. In the past I've tried offering medicine plants gifts of tobacco, cookies, and locks of hair, but a song works best of all for me to connect with the plant, and with its purpose. First I sit with the St. John's for a few minutes, tuning into my task and into the spirit of the herb. I realize that as I sit in my garden, easy and free in shorts and t-shirt in the 80 degree evening light, I am full to the brim with glorious Summer. Though my week has thus far traversed the full gamut of emotion-- and I wouldn't say it was all good!-- I am still just bursting with the feeling of endless possibilities and expansive horizons. THIS is what I will be capturing in my mason jar, and this is the true spirit of this special plant of mid-summer. Hence the song:

Saint John's of the Summertime
Keep me warm when winter is nigh
Keep me sunny, keep me bright
When the tide of darkness is high



I use the "folk method" of tincture making today, so when the jar is completely full of plant matter-- gently packed down, but not stuffed-- I fill it with water and alcohol. Since flowers and leaves break down fairly easily in alcohol, I don't need much. I use 70 percent water, which I add first, and measure by eyeballing the level in the jar:



My preferred alcohol is in that bottle beside the mason jar. It's organic grape alcohol from Alchemical Solutions in Ashland, Oregon, and it tastes so so fine! Now watch what happens when I pour in the alcohol:



Yes, it's turning deep red! That's the medicine, the hypericum, and it makes me very happy to see that I've timed my harvest just right!:



Now I label my jar with the plant, the date, and where the sun and moon are at astrologically (both in Cancer!), and wait a moon cycle to strain... oh, it feels so good to prepare for a dimly imagined winter during the height of summer, eating grapes and cherries and walking around in sandals all day. I'll leave you with some shots from the garden:

Feverfew!:



Lovely Lemon Balm:



Nettle in flower:



Beauty, Beauty, everywhere I look!:





...and one last "firework" (for "Inter-dependence" Day)!!!

Groovin' In The Grass

Today I was full of spunk and organized as all get out, and I actually managed to put up some medicine on my lunch break! The Hawthornes are in full glorious bloom all over Nevada County and I just had to strike while the iron was hot... 



The red berries are the part of the plant that was used traditionally, but modern Herbalists also use the leaves and flowers. The nicer the brandy you can get, the better. this French stuff isn't exactly Top Shelf, but it has a good flavor. Here's the bottle hanging out with the mason jar... I think they're having a pretty good time:



That mason jar is full to the brim with good medicine. Hawthorne is an amazing cardio-tonic, and tastes so good that you can throw tincture in oatmeal, smoothies, whatever! If heart disease or circulatory weakness runs in your family, this is a great preventative. I've heard women say that if you love your husband you start giving him Hawthorne when he's 40. (and if not....???) Don't go overdoing Hawthorne, however, if you're already on heart meds-- in that case, please Ask Your Herbalist.



I'm going to combine this with Ginkgo and Rosemary (a formula suggested by my friend Amber) for a super-circulatory power tonic to use before I go on stage--- I've found that using herbs which increase circulation help my brain remember words and chords better when under stress!



...and today I am trying an experiment-- Hawthorne blossoms in Witch Hazel. I'll make a toner out of it or use it in a lotion. I've never actually heard of this use before, but it seems to make sense as Hawthorne is in the same family as Rose and Strawberry (Rosaceae), whose flowers have been used since the dawn of Vanity for softening and toning skin. Also, this Witch Hazel was on sale at Longs... so there you go!



Here's to your Health... and Beauty!