 |
| my gathering basket |
I keep telling myself that it would be totally okay to start posting again, my posts don't necessarily have to be all herbal. At any rate here I am. I hope you forgive me.
 |
| stellaria media - chickweed |
Our week began with conjunctivitis. It was painful and gross. My middle one R had it the week before. That's when the infusion began. It started with chickweed and violet leaf. I read a lovely article written by Susun Weed all about chickweed. She writes, "Chickweed's ability to break cells open helps it get rid of bacterial infections when applied as a poultice." Stellaria media is really the best thing I could ever come up with for pinkeye. Violet, well she just wanted in that infusion, so she came along too. I used several different applications for us all. A hot compress, eye cup and eye dropper, depending on who it was I was applying it to.
 |
| chickweed, violet leaf and plantain |
A few nights later, in bed that I found that middle son R, four, has a nasty looking scratch on his foot. The night of the scratch I sent him down to my mother to have his wound cleaned and bandaged. She washed it and applied Sovereign Silver gel, my new favorite. The next day I began soaking his foot three times a day. I added yarrow, red clover and plantain to our infusion.
 |
| Achillea millefolium - yarrow |
My first son I who is seven, yesterday about 4:30 began to complain of pain in his ear. Well, we were planning to head to Chipotle at 4:30. We were waiting for their father to come and pick us up, he didn't get there until 5:30. By the time we were sitting down with our dinner it must have been 6:30 and Isaac was in too much pain to eat. We ate outside because I knew being inside would be too overwhelming. The rest of us crammed down our food while I sat in the car doing some bunny mazes. When we got home immediately I boiled some water for a hot compress. I had him lay down on a sleeping bag. Into his ear I put several drops of olive oil infused with garlic and mullien. I folded up a hot wet wash cloth into a dish cloth and put it over his ear while he watched a little TV. It wasn't until we laid down in bed that I found the pain was mostly in his lymphs under and behind his ears.
 |
| Galium verum - Lady’s Bedstraw |
So this morning I went out with my basket to gather the herbs for our ever growing infusion. That's when she appeared to me. Our Lady's Bedstraw. I was gathering chickweed from the same spot I have been all week and there she was. Our Lady's Bedstraw is best know as a lymph mover, so you can imagine how thrilled I was to find her.
 |
| violet leaf, lesser and greater plantain, dandelion |
I didn't put our lady's bedstraw in R's infusion. His has chickweed, plantain, dandelion, violet leaf, yarrow and red clover. Red clover is he only herb I didn't wildcraft from my own yard. In I's I put chickweed, plantain, dandelion, violet leaf and our lady's bedstraw.
 |
| one for you and one for me |
This is how our infusion grew from two herbs to many. They just kept jumping in the basket!
 |
| foot bath to be |
