Saturday, April 7, 2012

Hike and tincture

Spent many hours at Oxbow Park today reminiscing the first day of Arctos and all of the wonderful plant friends that I met. To my delight I remember so many of the plants, actually I can’t think of any that I don’t remember. Today I saw, Western Hemlock, Douglas Fir, Western Redcedar, Red Alder, Bigleaf Maple, Black Cottonwood, Willow, Salal, Oregon Grape, Trillium, Waterleaf, Dead Nettle, Dandelion, Western Coltsfoot, Stinging Nettle, Bleeding Heart, Wood Sorrel, Cleavers, Swordfern and Horsetail. The sun shined it’s warming rays upon us and upon the earth, as it warmed our feet and filled our hearts with joy. My lungs opened in gratitude to the fresh air surrounding us as we mingled among our friends of the forest.
We noticed it interesting that up at the highest point in the park we found Alders, ferns, waterleaf, which associate to with lower elevation near water. Sure enough there was water coming from somewhere up there, however, we did not find the source.
Today, I dehydrated the Hawthorn Berries that have been in my freezer since fall 2011. They came from Woods, who harvested them from the farm. I finally processed the berries today and made a tincture. I also make Poplar Bud tincture from some buds I found on the ground on my walk in the woods. 
Tincture:
Hawthorne (Crataegus spp.)
  • 50%; Grain Alcohol
  • Farmageddon
  • 3-16oz jars; dried berries
  • 42 ounces
Tincture:
Poplar (Populus trichocarpa)
  • 100%; Grain Alcohol
  • forest floor near Sandy River
  • 8oz fresh buds
Lucky me! I’ve been gifted tinctures today including, Wormwood, Valerian, Fennel, Lemon Balm and Burdock Seed. I was able to share tinctures with my friend as well.