Making tincture with my Herb Buddy

A lovely Friday evening with besties Rachel and Renee. We spend a wonderful evening make tincture from some beautiful plants growing in our community garden plots. Between the two of us we tinctured borage, lemon balm, lavender, artichoke, and st. johns wart. 

Tincture:

Artichoke (Cynara scolymos)

• 50% vodka
• Jovial Garden
• 16oz leaf
• dosing: 10-60 drops 3-4 times per day

Lavender (Lavandula augustifolia)

• 70% vodka
• Jovial Garden
• 16oz flowering heads
• dosing: 10-30 drops 3-4 times per day in some water

Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis)

• 50% vodka
• Jovial Garden
• 16oz leaf
• dosing: 10-60 drops 3-4 times per day

Artichoke, a member of the aster family, is a bitter with cooling tendencies. Cynara scolymus enjoys supporting the liver.

Lavender, a member of the mint family, is a bitter and aromatic herb with cooling and drying tendencies. Lavandula angustifolia has many uses including, anti-inflammatory carminative, diuretic, stress, antidepressant, insomnia and antimicrobial.

Lemon Balm, a member of the mint family, has a slight lemon smell and taste, it is sweet, sour and aromatic with a slightly warm tendency. Melissa officinalis’ indications include anxiety, restlessness, headache, depression, and hypertension. Uses include, nervine, sedative, mild antidepressant, vasodilation, hypotensive, carminative, diaphoretic, antiviral and antioxidant.

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.

Horehound & Cedar Tincture

Three weeks ago I gathered with my lovely herbie friends for a potluck and tincture exchange. Oh how I enjoy my plant friends; the food was wonderful and the abundance of herbs very fabulous.

I came home with Red Cedar tincture, Opium Poppy tincture, Hops tincture, Motherwort tincture and dried Horehound.

This evening I made Horehound tincture.

Horehound (Marrubium vulgare)

• 50%; grain alcohol
• Garden of Gradey
• 24oz of dried leaf, flower & stem

What I know about my new tinctures:

• Red Cedar in 75% alcohol 

Cedars are the Trees of Life

• Opium 
• Motherwort is from the mint family and is said to be a nervine that will quell irritability and anxiety, it may “...drive melancholy vapors from the heart” (Culpepper)

Cayenne & Ganoderma

Tincture:

Cayenne (Capsicum frutescens)

• 55%; Everclear
• Farmageddon peppers
• 1oz fresh fruit & seeds
• 8 ounces

Ganoderma

A deep immune builder concentrated tea; long term use to strengthen the immune system.

Completed 48 hour long decoction in the crock pot of dried Ganoderma mushrooms from People’s Food Coop. Made into ice cubes.

Notes on INFECTION

Infection !!! RED FLAGS !!! Wounds

• greater than 104 degree fever
• blood pressure change (learn and know pulse - check every 5-10 minutes; look for slowing, speeding up or lack of pulse)
• RED STREAK up arm or leg that is approaching heart (use marker to mark) **you never want this infection to make it to the heart**
• vomiting or passing blood (may look like coffee grounds) PROBLEM!
• change in consciousness
• suddenly acting different
• increase in pain, persistent pain, or sharp pain
• loss of consciousness **HOSPITAL**
• crushing sensation in chest
• men: jaw or left arm
• women: shoulder blade or nausea
• anaphylaxis: swelling, rash, itchy (throat), heat, family history, allergy, (epi-pen) **instant care** Emergency! History: can get worse each time!

Anti-infective herbs: Sage, Oregon Grape, Goldsenseal, Coptis, Usnea

First Aide herbs: Garlic, Yarrow, Oregon Grape, Lavendar

Lymph system and Infection - Sunday, August 28, 2011

What does the lymph system do anyway?

• carries nutrients to cells
• carries waste from cells
• drains to the heart and dumps
• lymph is interstitial fluid and has no red blood cells
• lymph nodes are base camps (neck, armpits, groin)
• Important: IMMUNE system (learns and creates fighters; new and exciting ways to get ride of things in the body)
• clear-ish fluid that moves slowly; passively
• helps move and digest fat
• the body moves 4-liters of blood per day
• flows only one way; towards the heart
• tonsils are lymph material; defenders
• the appendix may store beneficial bacteria; “safe spot”

The lymph system likes:

• gentle massage and touch in the direction towards the heart
• exercise
• deep and full breathing
• hydrotherapy
• drinking lots of water
• fresh leafy greens

The lymph system dislikes:

• stagnation
• sugar (feeds patogens)
• radiation (kills white blood cells)
• steroids
• tranquilzers
• tight clothes
• too much fat intake

Amazing lymph herbs include: Clevers, Redroot, Calendula, Echinacea, Pokeroot (LOW DOSE)

Deep immune drivers include: ~*~TAKE WHEN HEALTHY ONLY~*~

• Astragalus! root from the pea family; a great addition to cooking or tea (boil me!); a good everyday tonic.
• Ganoderma mushroom for long-term use, not acute; helps protect healthy cells and expel unhealthy cells especially cancer cells. (Shiitake mushroom too! - try face up, drizzle with olive oil and tamari and place in toaster oven)

Flower Essences, Stress, & The Heart - Sunday, August 7, 2011

Flower Essences

Today we each made a flower essences! I chose to make a lavendar flower essence. I sat with the lavendar for a while which felt like a nice hug. After some time and consideration I chose the flower that wanted to be part of my flower essence. Carefully without touch the flower and exchanging energy with it, I picked the flower from the plant and placed it in a glass bowl that contained filtered water. The flower sat in the water near it’s plant for most of the afternoon. Then I took the water and placed it in a tincture bottle of 1:1 Brandy. This is the Mother Flower Essence. The remainder of the lavendar water was sprinkled on me and on the lavendar plant in thanks. The mother can be cut 1:1 with Brandy to make the Stock bottle. The stock can the be cut 1:1 with Brandy to make the dosage bottle. It is important to remember to not touch the dropper when taking the flower essence as it make take up my energy. The flower essence can be dropped under the tongue or drops on the wrist. Taken over time flower essences gradually shift body and energy. 

Stress

Example of how people experience stress

• in back and shoulders
• short circuit to the brain
• lack of focus
• headache
• communication breakdown
• deep within chest
• slouched shallow breathing
• muscle pain
• irritability
• crying easily
• lack of appetite
• fidgety
• chest tightness
• nausea
• unstable
• itchy rashes 
• fuzzy thinking
• obsessive thinking
• agitative
• can’t think
• all goes into the gut
• rapid digestion

Examples of how people reduce stress

• bath with rose, comfrey and mugwort
• taking a walk
• deep breathing
• wallowing in the stress and not dealing with it
• going out into nature; barefoot focusing on posture
• cuddle puddle
• eating well (nourishing food; good fats)
• yoga
• talking with friends; venting and working it out
• water; showers and bath
• hugs
• massages
• running; biking riding; exercise
• physical yard work
• anger release; active energy
• funny movies; laughter
• emotional release; throwing a fit &/or crying
• recap for learning for next time
• breathing
• naked time
• music
• distraction; tv, facebook, video games
• beer, etc.

The Heart

The heart is a special muscle that circulates blood by pumping it through the body and the heart helps with waste removal.

The Heart likes:

• exercise
• fiber (removes excess fiber)
• HDL
• potassium, calcium and magnesium
• moderate intake of alcohol
• relaxation, good sleep and deep breathing
• good oral hygiene (teeth plaque = artery plaque)

The Heart dislikes:

• stress
• cigarettes
• obesity
• LDL
• excess sodium
• lots of alcohol
• loud noise
• excess caffeine

#1 heart herb: Hawthorne (Crataegus)

Other amazing heart helping herbs: Borage, Linden, Motherwort, Yarrow, Garlic, Cayenne Pepper, Rosemary, Sage and Peppermint.