the ever growing infusion

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

talking 'bout crazy cool wild herbs

Some nights I don’t have a lot to say.  I’ve been going through a rough patch the last few years.  It seems to have gotten a whole lot rougher in the last few months.  I hope to come out on the other side a much stronger person.  I’m a slow learner, slow to process, late bloomer, kapha, bear person, pisces.  I have been given one great gift, which is to know myself.  I don’t always know what I want, that’s true.  But I know who I am.

I think this is why I love nettles so much.  My first experience with nettles was as a child.  I’d heard them called “seven minute itch”.  I didn’t really know what that meant.  One day I was at a park with my family.  I seem to think it was after church because I was wearing a dress.  I don’t remember how, but I ended up falling down, and, one leg was in a patch of nettles.  My leg was burning.  I was crying.  After what seemed like much more than seven minutes, my parents took me to the ER.  Eventually the sting wore off.  The memory never has. 

You can imagine my shock, years later, when I saw women harvesting nettles with their bare hands.  Rosemary was going to show us how to make her delicious nettle spanakopita recipe.    She told us when you steam the nettles to make sure you leave the lid on until they are totally done.  At least ten minutes.  Make sure not to peek because the sting will be in the steam and it will sting your face.  Until then it had never occurred to me that the 7 minute itch that stung me so harshly was the same as the nettles I read about.  I have since come to love nettles.  Nettle has always loved me.  Melanie (Rosemary’s beautiful daughter) and her husband Jeff were selling potted herbs.  I bought some nettles thinking I might grow them in a bed in my yard.  I never had time to do so.  A few months later I chucked all the dead herbs and other yard compost into a fenced area.  Flash forward almost four years - I now I had enough nettles in my yard to make two batches of spanakopita and then some!   

 

Nettles to me speak of tenacity, an ability to adapt, and strength though adversity.  That’s why today when I went to blend a tea for a friend of mine I included nettles, not just for their vitamin content, which I discussed before, but for the spirit.  This is what I mean when I say the herbs get to know us and we get to know them.  There is a personality or spirit to each herb.  We can learn about this from observing where the herb grows,  tastes and smells like.  What it looks like.  There are little hairs on the stem and the undersides of the leaves.  These hairs have formic acid.  That’s what stings us.  Formic acid can also be found in bee and ant stings.  But guess what else is in them?   Serotonin!  Nettles are serious about happiness.  This is what nettles are to me.  I don’t know what they are to you. 

How can you get to know an herb?  There are a few ways, as mentioned above:  observe it in its natural habitat, read about the herb from several herbalists, make an infusion and drink it every day for a week.  Taste the infusion; listen to what it tells you.    

drink your greens

Often when people call or text me for herbal advice, it’s for a friend.  Recently a friend texted me for a friend of hers who is pregnant.  She is experiencing nausea and heartburn. 

Usually I would call the texter and ask more direct questions.  However in this case I was otherwise occupied with the tasks of the day.  So I chose to respond with a “prescription” of a few of the most innocuous and most healthful herbs I know of. 

Nettles, red clover, red raspberry leaf and hawthorn.  Take two mason jars and call me in the morning.  I chose these herbs for two reasons.  The first being my own experience with the herbs.  After I birthed my second in ’07 I felt, well, let’s just say, not good.  I read in an issue of Mothering magazine (moment of silence RIP Mothering magazine) about a sleepless mother who had medicated herself with calcium/magnesium drops.  I thought that’s what I need!  But I didn’t know where to get the drops and frankly didn’t have the wherewithal to pursue them.  What I did have was a well worn copy of one of my favorite herbals of all time, Wise Woman Herbal for the Childbearing Year, by Susun Weed.  This book has an extremely informative Apendix 1 which lists vitamins and mineral and the herbs they can be commonly found in.  So first I looked to the Calcium list:

alfalfa, red clover, raspberry leaf, comfrey, nettles, parsley, watercress, cleavers, horsetail, coltsfoot, plantain, chamomile, shepard’s purse, borage, chicory, dulse, dandelion and kelp.

  Lovely info, if not extremely overwhelming.  Okay, let’s look at what she lists for magnesium:

Alfalfa, bladder wrack, catnip, cayenne, chamomile, chickweed, dandelion, eyebright, fennel, fenugreek, hops, horsetail, lemongrass, licorice, mullein, nettle, oat straw, paprika, parsley, peppermint, raspberry leaf, red clover, sage, shepherd's purse, yarrow, yellow dock.  

Do you see what I see?  Nettles, raspberry leaf and red clover are in both lists!  In ’07 I got out my highlighter, at this time I had a three year old and a baby so I still had highlighters.   I went through the list of vitamins and minerals highlighting those three herbs.

I found that nettles are a source of, vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, B5, C, D, E and K.  As well as a source for the minerals calcium, chromium, iron, magnesium, potassium, selenium and zinc.

Red Clover is a source for A, B1, B2, B3 and C.  Minerals Calcium, chromium, magnesium, manganese, molybdenum and potassium.

Raspberry leaf is a source for A, B1, B2, B3, C and E.  As well as a source for the minerals calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese and selenium. 

Here is a similar list I found online.  

It’s impossible to overdose on any of these herbs, they are safe for children, the elderly and the infirm.  I feel safe advising anyone at all to ingest them and they are extremely healthful.  A person can only eat so much kale in a day.  The same person however can drink herbal infusions throughout the day.  Morning sickness is often caused by hunger that is past the point of no return, or vitamin deficiency.  That is why I felt this friend of a friend who I’ve never met or even spoken to, should take nettle, raspberry leaf and red clover. 

As for the hawthorn, well, that’s a different story.  Hawthorn has a long history as a heart support herb.  It is indicated for hypertension and even early stages of hear disease.  Why would I tell a completely stranger to try this herb?  Well, because I felt like it fit.  I don’t want to hang myself out here as a complete woo woo herbalist.  I’m following my intuition on this one.  Secondly and this is also the second reason my mind immediately went to raspberry, nettles and clover, secondly hawthorn is my herbal ally.  These herbs are my friends.  I want to introduce you to the idea of herbal allies because I feel it’s an important concept.  These are the herbs you consistently choose.  These herbs are most likely no further than 3 or 4 minutes walking distance from your home.  I’ll be talking more about this idea in the future, I want to get you warmed up to the idea that plants love us back and want to be our friends. 

For now though let me share with you my not so much as a recipe but a method for making herbal infusions.  First things first you are going to need some heatproof containers that have lids.  I use mason jars, you probably do too.  Fill your tea pot to the brim and get your water good and hot.  In the meantime, stuff those mason jars with herbs.  Use a canning funnel, it’s much easier.  I usually fill my jars a quarter to a third of the way.  I use a handful or two of each herb!  No more that two or three different herbs.  When the water is hot, pour it into the jars slowly, the dried herbs can expand and take you by surprise.  When you’ve got your jars full, quickly put a lid on them.  I do this at night.  Then in the morning I strain my now cool herbal infusions into a pitcher.  I put the herbs into my compost bucket, then pour the infusion back into the jars that I’ll be drinking it from all day.  I drink 2-3 jars of infusion a day when the spirit moves me.  This is strong stuff and the flavor is strong too.  You may want to water it down or add honey.  That’s okay, do what works for you.  Start small and get to know the herbs you are ingesting.