Spring/Summer List of Medicine Making

This year is the first year in many that I have been able to devote so much time to herbal studies. As a result I've made the most oils, vinegars, tinctures, and dried plants than ever before. Here's a list of this year's activities:


Oils:
Rue
Hyssop
Bee Balm
Wormwood
Mugwort
Lemon Balm
St. John’s Wort
Red Clover
Mullein Flower
Yarrow
Arnica
plantain
comfrey


Alcohol Extracts: (95% unless otherwise noted)
Rue
Hyssop
Bee Balm
Wormwood
Mugwort
Lemon Balm
St. John’s Wort
Red clover
Yarrow
Plantain
Motherwort
Rose
Wood Betony (Brandy)
Shepherd’s Purse
Nettle (40% vodka)
Elecampane
Feverfew
Meadowsweet
Peach
Plantain
Potentilla
Valerian


Vinegars:
Lady’s Mantle
Motherwort
Hyssop
Red Clover
Cleavers
Dandelion root

Salves:
Cottonwood Salve
Trauma and Pain Salve (arnica, st. John’s wort, Cottonwood, Comfrey)
Healing Salve (plantain, calendula, dandelion, cottonwood)

Lip Balm:
Cottonwood and Coconut
Soothing lip balm (calendula, dandelion, cottonwood)
Cold Sore Care (St. John’s Wort oil and tincture in a beeswax base)

What's up in the Methow

July is already here! With such a busy spring I am constantly reminding myself to slow down and take time to enjoy the summer.

With that said here's a listing of what's up in the Methow (otherwise known as my to do list).

Elderflowers have been beckoning from the roadsides starting a couple of weeks ago. Yesterday while out picking a second round of flowers I noticed several bunches are making the turn to green berries. In a couple more weeks they'll be ready for making "capers". Hawthorne berries are a good size with a slight twinge of red to them.

Also in roadside bloom is fireweed and yarrow is blanketing the hillsides and forests. Mullein is starting to flower and plantain is well on it's way to seed. Even the dock's seed heads are already a rusty brown.

Saskatoons are ripe on the valley floor and I ate my first handful yesterday, followed by my second third and fourth today. (Does anyone use these shrubs medicinally?)

I finally found a small patch of St. John' Wort. I am not sure if it's big enough for all my St. John's Wort needs however. If you are in the valley and know of a good patch - please let me know!

Not only are the plants in this community rich and diverse the community of people is awesome as well. I spent the last three days harvesting many baskets of lavender from a neighbor's garden. She and her husband planted a long row, but seldom use it, so she offered it to me. As a result my husband and I spent the 4th of July making Lavender Faery Wands which we sold at the Farmer's Market the next day.

Being the 4th with many people in town we sold a lot of salves, lip balms, and other herbal products at the market. A fabulous herbalist in the valley stopped by to say that my lib balm is the best she's had and ordered a wholesale lot to sell herself. (Truly flattered.) Also, one of the local proprieters of the health food store in town came by to buy more of my herbal all purpose cleaner and said if I made up a bunch she would carry it at the store as it is her favorite cleaner at home.

Which is all to say this week will be busy in the herbal apothecary. I have fresh arnica oil to make into salve as well as some fresh plantain, comfrey, cottonwood, calendula salve to make as well.

I picked my first calendula flower of the season today and last week from www.ancestreeherbals.com I received fresh red clover flowers, coltsfoot leaves, wood betony, and feverfew. This coming week I have meadowsweet, hyssop, and rue on the way.

Phew!

New house - new plants

We recently had the incredible opportunity to house sit for the summer. Friends of ours had just built a brand new home and were leaving for the summer so the dad could be a ranger in the back country of Yosemite. We've only been there three nights but have so thoroughly enjoyed this special place.

The home was built entirely with a "green" mindset as many of the materials were resourced locally and many were recycled. The house is run entirely on solar power which is being stored in recycled batteries from cell phone towers. They have both a cook stove as well as a gas stove for the hotter months.

One of the best features of the house is its ability to regulate the temperature. It should remain 60-70 degrees year round. Yesterday it was over a hundred degrees outside - but it still remained in the mid 60's inside. I am currently blogging from out old house where it's 87 degrees inside - I think we moved just in time!

They have a very simple heating system that collects the heat from the roofs and stores it under the house. The collected heat will then diffuse over the winter (where it often goes below 0 degrees) to maintain that 60 - 70 degrees temperature.

Being in a solar powered home has really raised our consciousness to the amount of energy we use. Lights are never left on, and the few electrical appliances we use are kept to a minimum and only during daylight hours.

In the fall we hope to have enough money saved to move into a geodesic dome. At that point we'll waive goodbye to electricity all together, so this is a nice way to transition ourselves.

(We do all of this in the effort to take responsibility for our actions. We've become tired of complaining about the dams destroying the salmon runs... for us it's important to live in a way that doesn't support the need to have the dams in the first place.)

For those of you unfamiliar with the Methow Valley we have moved from the Valley floor to the mountains. Instead of sagebrush we have pine trees and douglas firs. As you'll see below the flowers are still blooming as well.

The previous pictures are of Mariposa lilies and Indian paintbrush.

The following pictures are of our new home as well as some shots from a hike we took yesterday.

The living room

View from the front window


Tiger lilies are blooming in the mountains. I haven't found reference to medicinal uses of this beauty, but you can eat the bulbs.









Photo of Black Pine Lake - a short distance from our house.









Didn't see many columbines, but they were a welcome sight.








Native Dandelion...









One more view shot. I live in a beautiful place!

Pickled Bullwhip Kelp

Pickled kelp is one of my favorite treats. I learned about harvesting and processing kelp, Nereocystis luetkeana, from my mentor Karen Sherwood of Earthwalk Northwest. Her 5 day Coastal Foraging class is absolutely spectacular and this is just one of the many culinary delights students learn and prepare in class.

For our first wedding anniversary we planned a trip to Canada to see a friend as well as the famous anthropology museum in Vancouver, BC. From there we headed to Lopez Island off the coast of WA state for several days. Originally I had planned on harvesting some kelp fronds for drying and some bullwhip kelp stipes for pickling. One night before falling asleep I had a great idea. Let's can 50 jars of kelp! And thus our anniversary vacation turned into a working vacation. :)


Kelp is very mineral and vitamin rich. I think of eating even a small portion of kelp each day as a better alternative to taking a multi-vitamin. Kelp is especially important for those of us with a low thyroid function as the high iodine amounts help to nourish the thyroid. Often called the world's most perfect food herbalists from Susun Weed to Ryan Drum tout it's far reaching health benefits. We eat dried kelp daily in our gomasio, or in seaweed cookies another favorite treat. I also throw kelp into almost all the stews we make, and I put a small clipping in with dried beans while they are soaking.

The picture to the right is various seaweeds drying in the sun.

To harvest kelp in good amounts you want to go at a low tide. We celebrate our wedding anniversary on the full moon in June and since full moons also present the lowest tides it worked out great. Following the tide schedule we kayaked around a couple of bays looking for healthy stands of kelp. I have only harvested kelp about five times, but in my experience it likes to grow next to rocky outcroppings and sure enough we found a very healthy stand on the side of a bay. All in all we harvested about 60 stipes and fronds, but the stand was so large it didn't make a dent in the overall numbers.

For those of you unfamiliar with kelp, it grows in large stands with a long hollow tube attaching it to the bottom of the ocean floor. This tube floats on the surface with the kelp leaves or fronds trailing alongside it. If you have visited the ocean as a child you probably remember picking up those long hollow tubes and whipping them around as if you were a old time western bandit.

If you are only interested in harvesting fronds it's very easy to do so in a manner that illicits very minimal impact. Where the hollow tube (stipe) ends, you can see little attachments and then the fronds come out from there. By using scissors to cut the fronds a couple inches from the attachments you can be assured that the kelp will continue to grow.

To harvest the stipes is akin to harvesting the roots of a plant so great care needs to be taken to ensure you are harvesting from a strong stand. To harvest them my husband paddled around while I gathered healthy looking kelp into the kayak. I would heft the long heavy fronds into a bag, and then pull up the stipes. I quickly found a good balance in pulling hard enough to disengage the attachments, but not so hard that we capsized. I prefer harvesting the medium sized plants the best. I leave the young to continue growing and the older plants are very hard to pull up.

Once we have harvested what we need, we also fill up a bucket of salt water for rinsing the kelp later.

Back at camp we hung the incredible amount of fronds we had on a fence. Seaweed is one of the few herbs you actually want to dry in the sun. It's incredibly mucilaginous. If you don't mind being slimy placing the fresh fronds directly on the skin does wonders for sunburns. Cooling and moistening and draws out the heat - much in the same way fresh aloe does.

I wouldn't necessarily recommend pickling a large amount of jars of kelp while camping to anyone else. It was a lot of work, although I have to say, my husband and I had a lot of fun while doing it as well. Spending all that time outside, working side by side may not be the luxurious way to spend an anniversary, but it was meaningful and rewarding.

Here's a modified recipe I learned from Karen. Basically any basic pickling brine will do.

Pickled Kelp Recipe:
Kelp stipes
Cayenne Peppers
Garlic
Fresh Dill
Pickling spices
2 quarts of apple cider vinegar
3 quarts of water
1/4 cup of pickling salt
1/4 alum or grape leaves

To begin, if necessary rinse the kelp stipes off with seawater (not fresh!). Cut them into tubes that will fit into sanitized wide mouth quart or pint mason jars. OR you can slice the rounds into 1/4 thickness. They look very pretty using the latter method, but you get more in the jar with the former. We cut them into tubes filling the larger tubes with smaller ones - really trying to pack as much as we could in there.

Along with the kelp place one clove of garlic, one cayenne pepper, and one sprig of dill in the mason jar.

In a large pot warm the vinegar, water, pickling salt, pickling spices and alum or grape leaves. Bring to a boil and pour the boiling brine over the kelp. Wipe off the rim and the sanitized lid, and screw on the cap.

I like to eat a slice of kelp every day. We also like to serve it as an appetizer - filled with cream cheese and a sprinkle of paprika for flare.

You can use pickled kelp in the same ways you would use a pickle. On sandwiches, in tuna fish, or for making your own tartar sauce. If you are able to get to the coast I would heartily recommend making friends with this incredibly nutritious ally.

Thank you to Bob for the photos!

Kelp can be made into all sorts of delicious treats.

Here's a recipe for seaweed cookies. 

And don't miss this special seasoning blend, Sea Zest! 

Methow Valley Plant of the Week: Lamb's Quarters

Botanical Information

Scientific Name:

Chenopodium album

Family:

Chenopodium or Goosefoot

Lamb’s quarters are a common weedy vegetable that countless people try to rid from their

garden in vain. When I see this hearty green popping up in my garden soil I am overjoyed for here is a highly nutritious plant that is easily cultivated, harvested and consumed.

This inconspicuous plant is recognized by its wavy triangular green leaves and whitish

coloring underneath. It grows anywhere from one foot to ten feet tall and has plentiful black seeds. It often has a reddish tinge at the base of the stem. As always be sure to correctly

identify this plant before consuming.

The leaves are incredibly high in calcium, beta carotene, thiamine, niacin, and potassium.

A 1/2 cup of the seeds provides the recommended daily allowance for calcium and healthy servings of niacin and potassium.

Historical Uses:

Lamb’s quarters has been used by many cultures all around the world. Archaeological findings show that it was an early food in northern Europe as well as in northern and southern America.

It was historically grown during times of warfare when other food sources were scarce. The black plentiful seeds of this plant were grounded to make a black bread for Napoleon and his troops.

Contemporary Uses:

Lamb’s quarters taste very

similar to spinach and can be used in the same way. We love them in scrambled eggs, crepes, or quiche. They can be eaten raw or cooked. However, also like spinach, they contain oxalic acid which can be rough on the kidneys—so moderation of raw greens is advised.

The greens are best when harvested young, or less than a foot tall. They can be blanched for future use by boiling for one minute and then freezing.

Lamb’s Quarters Quiche

1 prepared pie crust

1/2 onion chopped

1 lb of nitrate-free bacon

Several handfuls of Lamb’s

Quarters

6 Eggs

Pinch of Salt

Tsp mustard

Tsp of dried basil

1 Cup of Local Raw Milk

1 cup Goat Cheese

Chop the bacon into small slices about a 1/2 inch wide. Sauté until almost entirely cooked, add the

onion and cook until onion is

translucent.

In a medium bowl combine the eggs, salt, basil, milk, and mustard and mix well.

Place the cooked bacon and

onions in the prepared pie crust, sprinkle the goat cheese over the bacon, and then add the egg

mixture.

Cook at 350⁰ or until the edges are brown and it is solid in the center. Let cool and eat warm or chilled.

Works consulted:
Linda Runyon, Crabgrass Muffins to Pine Needle Tea
Janice Schofield, Discovering Wild Plants

May Blog Party: Spring Greens - Native Wildflowers

This month's Blog Party is being hosted by Darcey with the theme of spring greens.

We arrived in the Methow Valley last September, so this is our first experience of spring and the scrumptious, beautiful, bountiful greens it brings. The Methow Valley is in the Northeastern Cascades of Washington state. The ecology ranges from sage brush shrub step to alpine pine forests with several rivers and many lakes running through it all.

We've been feasting on a lot of weedy greens like dandelion and dock. It was great to get these nutritious greens long before the salad greens started showing up at the farmer's market. And although I love my weeds, lately I've been fascinated with the native wildflowers that offer a cornucopia of food (above and beneath the ground).

Spring Beauty (Claytonia lanceolata)
We've been enjoying lots of salads with spring beauties. They have a crisp distinctive taste that is completely reminiscent of spring. The aerial portions are high in vitamins A and C, and look absolutely beautiful in a salad. The corms found below ground taste like sweet potatoes. They can be baked, boiled, and eaten or dried into cakes for later use.

Blue Bells (Mertensia spp.)
Another great spring green. You can eat the leaves and flowers of this dainty plant that surely must be home to the fairy folk. Because it's in the borage family I limit my intake due to the potential alkaloids- adding a few to salads for decorum.

Desert Parsley (Lomatium triternatum)
This abundant plant in the carrot (umbelliferaceae) family has a spicy taste reminiscent of celery. Imagine celery with a kick, and that's Lomatium triternatum. Besides eating it in salads we are drying a bunch for use as a spice.

Wild Onion (Allium spp.)
Wild onions abound in the Methow. They can be used much like their less wild cousins you find in the grocery store, although they have much smaller bulbs. Tonight we had liver and onions eating both the bulbs and greens. Yuuummmy!

Mariposa Lily (Calochortus macrocarpus)
This might be cheating a bit on the theme since you don't actually eat the greens of this eye catching flower, only the bulbs. Still a great treat in the spring. I've only eaten these raw, but they have a pleasant nutty taste that I really enjoy.

Bitterroot (Lewisa rediviva)
Again, cheating a bit since we eat the below ground portions of this incredibly important food source, but I just had to include it because it is so beautiful and plentiful in the spring. We harvest the roots, cleaning off the outer papery portion and picking out its red heart in the center of the root. We then steam them for hours in a steam pit. I've also pickled them with beats before - they turned this brilliant fuschia color, but still tasted very bitter - making this a very well named plant.



For those of you in the valley (or elsewhere) wanting to try these plants, I urge a lot of caution. There are some very dangerous look alikes (death camas for example - another very well named plant you would not want to harvest for dinner), as well as a delicate ecology that needs to be tended with care.

Seaweed Cookies (Nereocystis luetkeana)

This page has moved.
Please go to http://www.herbalremediesadvice.org/seaweed-recipes-cookies.html
to see the seaweed cookies recipe.

Pickled Dandelion Buds

My friend Kimberly Gallagher mentioned she is trying to do one new thing with her favorite plants this year. That seemed like a great idea to me, and so in that spirit I tried pickled dandelion buds.

Recently I harvested whole dandelion plants from a local farm so that I could use the roots (for beverages) and the leaves for pesto. Once home I realized that although at first glance the plants were not in flower, hiding in the baselette of the dandelions were lots and lots of unopened buds... Hmmm, I thought, haven't I heard you could pickle these?

Luckily google came to my aid and I got this recipe from the folks at:
http://www.goodnaturedearthling.com/recipes.htm

I started by separating the flower buds from the stems. I just took the ones that were smaller and didn't have a lot of formed bracts. (Although some I just removed the bracts.) I ended up with a decent amount. When selecting your buds, you definitely want to make sure that the flower buds are close tight and have never been opened before.

I then chopped up some onion, garlic, and ginger and put all of that in a mason jar. I filled the mason jar about a 1/3 of the way with tamari and the rest of the way with apple cider vinegar. I'll wait a couple weeks before sampling.

Has anyone else used the unopened buds before? I've sampled them before while out foraging, but this is my first recipe. I am excited to see how it turns out.

Dandelion Fritters

Wow! this has been a busy week. I guess spring is here and there is lots and lots to do. I spent a lot of time with dandelion this week and did some new things that I'll be sharing. Our lawn just erupted with dandelion flowers - it's so beautiful I just have a hard time understanding why people want to eradicate this plant.

I've made dandelion wine a few times and swore to never to do it again because it is a lot of work! But once those beautiful flowers showed up I just couldn't help myself. I am waiting for my wine yeast to actually make the wine and when it shows up I'll post about how I make dandelion wine.

We had a couple extra flowers left over so last night I made up some fritters! Definitely wild food junk food - but delicious all the same.

When I gather the flowers I try to get the biggest ones that are completely open. I put all the flowers in a basket that has some holes, or a paper bag. After collecting I leave this out in the sun for about an hour (the paper bag I put on its side) to let out all the creatures that were enjoying their dandelions before I came along and plucked it.


To make the fritters, we first started by taking the bracts off the dandelion flowers. In the picture you can see the one on the left has bracts and the one on the right the bracts have been removed. I was taught to remove the bracts because of their bitter taste.






I then made up the batter. I got my original recipe from Karen Sherwood and just tweaked it a little to fit the ingredients I had on hand.

1/3 cup whole wheat pastry flower
1/3 cup corn meal
1 t baking powder
cinnamon to taste
dash of salt
1 T of butter
2 T of honey
1/3 Cup milk
1 egg
Coconut oil

Mix the dry ingredients together and then melt the butter on low heat along with the honey. Let this cool and add the egg and milk. Mix well and then add to dry ingredients. You want to end up with a consistency like pancake batter.

I then heat up a good amount of coconut oil in the skillet. I like coconut oil because it is great for high heat and one of the most nutritious oils available. Whatever oil you use just make sure it has a high smoking temperature. (Olive oil is a very poor choice.)






Once the oil is hot enough I dip the flowers in the batter and place them in the skillet. I turn them once one side is golden brown.

Once they are done cooking I place them on a plate lined with a paper towel.You could also make these more savory by omitting the honey and adding herbs like thyme and rosemary.

Spring Beauty (Claytonia lanceolata)

Now that the valley is bursting with life we will be harvesting more and more wild food for our meals. Today my husband spent a few hours harvesting spring beauties. We had this beautiful salad for dinner. We ate the entire aerial plant which is high in vitamins A and C. It tastes much like miner's lettuce from the western part of Washington state. They are both in the Purslane family of the claytonia genus. He also gathered a lot of the corms which we will process tomorrow, so I will post about that with pictures then.

I spent the day harvesting dandelions - the flower, leaf, and root. At herbmentor.com we are studying dandelion this month and I am looking forward to being able to participate in the dandelion discussions. It'll be a big processing day tomorrow - I can hardly wait to get started. Of course I'll take pictures of all my concoctions and share it will you.

Also tomorrow my husband plans to harvest a lot of bitterroot - also in the Purslane family. I'll of course be writing about that as well.

Wow, that's a lot of teasers for one night. :)

Farmer's Market and Native Plant Hike

It's been an incredibly busy weekend. First, I was selling my herbal wares at the local farmer's market on Saturday morning. This week I had a table set up for people to identify local plants that was really successful and fun. I simply put some plant cuttings in cups, and then fixed a label to the backside stating the common name, botanical name, family, and some edible, medicinal, and utilitarian uses for each one.

I had yarrow, dandelion, yellow dock, mallow, mullein, and oregon grape out. Most people got dandelion, but the rest were not so easy! People were absolutely amazed you could eat some of them, or that yarrow is such a powerful medicinal (it grows everywhere here). It's so surprising to me that what I know isn't common knowledge!

Directly after the market I went up to Patterson Mountain to lead a native plant hike. I was worried headed up there that I would be too tired after such a big morning to lead the hike well, but I think it went great! I spoke a lot to the edible and medicinal uses of many of the plants we saw. There were lots of wildflowers out and over the next week I will be posting more about each one.

The beautiful picture above is of larkspur or Delphinium spp. It belongs to the buttercup family and is highly toxic to humans and cows. Apparently sheep aren't bothered by it. It's a very striking flower - the showy part is actually 5 sepals with the actual flower being in the center. After seeing it up on the mountain we found it growing on our property as well.

Edible Weeds Recipes

I taught a class last week on edible weeds and was surprised to see how many people were just coming around to the idea that weeds are great! I suppose I live in somewhat of an herbal bubble. :) I made up a little booklet of recipes for the class. If you are a part of the herbmentor.com community John will be posting the pdf file so that you can print it out as a booklet. Otherwise you'll just have to read it here. :)


Common Edible Weeds
The following list is for educational purposes. Some of these plants require special harvesting times or special preparation before they are edible.

Dandelion
Chickweed
Burdock
Lamb’s Quarters
Purslane
Milkweed
Violets
Mustard Family


Salsify
Sorrel
Yellow Dock
Stinging Nettle
Mallow
Red Clover


Dandelion Pesto
2-4 crushed cloves of garlic
1/2 cup cold presses olive oil
2-3 cups freshly picked young dandelion leaves
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
Dash of sea salt

Place oil, garlic, and salt in the blender along with half of the dandelion leaves. Blend well, and then add the other half of the leaves. When finished blending it should be of a good consistency and a little runny still. Pour into a bowl and add desired amount of parmesan cheese. Occasionally I add pine nuts or ground walnuts as well. We love this pesto as a dip, on bread, pasta, salmon, or even a couple tablespoons with our scrambled eggs.

Dandelion Greens
One onion
Pinch of sea salt
2 T of olive oil or butter
2 cloves of garlic
Bunch of dandelion greens
Squirt of lemon

Begin by sautéing the onion and salt in olive oil or butter until it has turned to a rich brown color (caramelized). Add the garlic and sauté for a minute more. Add the dandelion greens and sauté until wilted and then add a squirt of lemon juice.

We use this base recipe in quiche, tacos, or simply rolled up in a large kale, chard of lettuce leaf. Delicious!

Dandelion Coffee

Collect dandelion roots after they have gone to seed or before they flower. Wash well, and cut into small pieces. At this point you can dry them well and store them for later roasting or you can roast them in a cast iron until they turn brown and have a pleasant odor. Once roasted I place a couple of tablespoon of roasted root in 8 oz of water, boil for seven minutes, add cream and enjoy.


Dandelion or Red Clover Fritters

One cup flour
One cup milk
One T baking powder
One cup corn meal
4 eggs
Dash of sea salt

Sweet:
One T honey (or to taste)
Cinnamon, cloves, cardamom nutmeg to taste OR

Savory:
Thyme, rosemary, oregano or other savory herbs to taste

Mix the dry ingredients together and then add eggs and mix well. Add sweet or savory ingredients. Dip the flower blossoms into the mix and fry in hot oil until golden.


Wild Greens Casserole
(Recipe courtesy of Karen Sherwood)
2 cups cooked stinging nettles, amaranth greens, lamb’s quarter’s greens, mustard greens, or yellow dock greens
1/4 cup butter melted
4 eggs beaten
1 cup milk
2 garlic cloves minced
2 T Tamari or soy sauce
3 Cups cooked rice or quinoa
8 Leeks
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 t thyme and rosemary

Combine the above ingredients into a baking dish. Bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees


Marinated Burdock Root
(Recipe courtesy of Eaglesong at Ravencroft Gardens)
6—8 first year burdock roots
2 cups of water
2cups of tamari or soy sauce
2 cups balsamic vinegar
4 cloves of garlic sliced
One piece of ginger

Wash and thinly slice burdock root, slice garlic and cut ginger into matchstick size pieces. Add to medium skillet with water. Sauté until burdock is just tender. Add tamari and vinegar and reheat. Pack into sterile canning jars to seal or store in refrigerator.

Dock Seed Crackers

Mix together :
One cup of dock seed flour
One teaspoon of salt
One cup flour of your choice. (My favorites are whole-wheat pastry flour and rye flour.)

Mix in enough water to make a pliable, but not sticky dough.
On a well-floured surface, roll dough as thin as possible. Cut into desired shapes or transfer it whole to a well-oiled cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 -12 minutes at 375° or until crisp. I love these hearty crackers with Brie or goat cheese.


Herbal Vinegar
To make an herbal vinegar I fill a quart jar with lightly packed herbs, then fill it with organic apple cider vinegar and cap with a plastic lid or a plastic lined metal lid. I label it, let it sit for six weeks—shaking daily.

After six weeks I strain off the material and use this vinegar in our homemade dressing.
Favorite plants to make vinegar from:
Nettle leaves Chickweed Leaves Lamb’s Quarters
Dandelion Roots Dandelion Leaves Burdock Roots
Hawthorn Berries Yellow Dock Root Cleavers


Nettle Ale
(Recipe courtesy of Karen Sherwood)
49 Stinging Nettle stalks with leaves
1 1/4 gallons of water
1 1/2 pounds of sugar
1 oz. cream of tartar
1/4 oz of yeast

Bring water to a boil in a large pot. Add nettles an steep 15 minutes. Strain the mnettle reserving the infusion. Add the sugar and cream of tartar stirring until dissolved. When the mixture is tepid add the yeast and stir well. Cover the container with cheesecloth and allow to sit for 4 days. Remove the residue on the top and decant without disturbing the sediment on the bottom. Bottle.

Methow Valley Update (Mid April)

We went on a beautiful evening walk tonight and I want to record all that is happening so that I can compare notes with the following years.

Today was the first day we noticed the river growing - caught us totally by surprise. A few days ago we were down by the river chasing marmots when we found a hawthorn! Quite the find. It's strange we've never seen it before, but we've been eating a lot of hawthorn berry vinegar lately and it's like it jumped out of the landscape.

So many plants have just shot out of the ground. Lomatium dissectum, or chocolate tips, is out and flowering and seems to be everywhere!







Buttercups are dotting the hillside as are yellow bells and blue bells.










It's the perfect season for harvesting yellow dock leaves - see all that green? It's all dock!









Switching from flora to fauna - can you see the marmot tracks? They like to hang out in my dock field.










Oregon grape is getting ready to bloom its tart yellow flowers.









Today we also noticed the elderberry is starting to sprout leaves and we did a little pruning to clear out the dead branches and make room for the new. (My elderberry wine is sitting in bottles right now and I can hardly wait for it to be ready... just six more months!)

Arrowleaf balsam root was just peaking it's head out of the ground a few days ago and now the leaves have grown tremendously and the flower heads are out as well.

Mullein is looking healthy and the sqaw currants are completely leafed out. The pussy willows outside the house are covered in green fuzzy tips and the bees have been busy buzzing around while the warblers and swallows have been busy eating them up. The red wing blackbirds are constantly crying out to "poke yerrr neighberrr" and at times there are at least fifty robins eating in the field.

Dandelions are growing in the garden as are little tiny leaves that are too young to identify. Xavier wonders if it will be all the squash we composted last fall... In general the hillsides are getting greener, but there is still snow in the not to distant mountains.

Roots: Valerian

Common Name: Valerian
Botanical Name: Valeriana officinalis, V. sitchensis + 150 spp.
Plant Family: Valerianaceae
Major Plant Constituents: Isovaleric acid, valeric adic, valerine, chatinine alkaloids, volatile oil
Parts used: Roots

Historical Uses: Some Pacific NW tribes cooked and ate the leaves and roots - not very palatable reports Tilford. Pied Piper had these roots in his pocket to lead the rats off the island.

Uses: Mainly known as a safe sedative. It is also anti-spasmodic, carminative, and hypotensive. Useful for insomnia due to the mind racing about. Because it is also stimulates digestion, lungs, and cardio output, a thorough understanding of a person's systems should be known before using. (Michael Moore)

Contraindications/Cautions: Some people do react poorly to this herb, especially in high amounts. It's suggested to not use it daily for more than three weeks. The dry root tincture has more stimulus and accumulative effects.

Personal Experience: I use valerian for menstrual cramps, especially at night. This time around I tinctured some of the fresh root, and currently some is drying for a dry root tincture - just to explore the differences. I remember the first time I smelled valerian and had the typical reaction of "that is so gross." This time around I really loved it. It was earthy and pungent in a good way. Gail Faith Edwards suggests that those who don't like the smell probably should find another plant to work with.

I had read about animals being attracted to this plant and got a nice first hand experience of that this time around. I walked through our door with lots of bags in my hands and set them all down on the kitchen floor - including a brown bag of valerian roots. Almost immediately our cat, Alfalfa, was brushing up against the bag, though, I'll admit I didn't really pay attention. I just thought he was so happy to see me. (Yeah right.) After greeting my husband I turned around to see Alfie plunged head first into the bag. Quite adorable. The entire time I was making a tincture and preparing it for drying, Alfie was right there with me incredibly interested in all that I did. I've never seen him get that excited over catnip, but valerian, let me tell ya, was a big hit.

Works consulted:
Medicinal Plants of the Pacific West, Michael Moore
Opening our Wild Hearts to the Healing Herbs, Gail Faith Edwards
Edible and Medicinal Plants of the West, Gregory Tilford

Roots: Elecampane

My local herb farm, Ancestree Herbals, harvested some spring roots that I had signed up for. I've been watching the slowly emerging new plant growth thinking it was going to be a long time before actually getting my hands on plant materials and then surprise! They emailed to let me know I had a pound of elecampane waiting for me.

Common Name: Elecampane
Botanical Name: Inula helenium
Plant Family: Asteraceae
Major Plant Constituents: Inulin, alantolactone, helenin
Parts used: Roots

Historical Uses: Alleviate suppressed menses, strengthening tonic. Very important herb to Greeks and Romans who even used it as a seasoning (Wild Hearts, Edwards). Cherokee used the roots as a remedy for all lung ailments and women used it to strengthen their womb during pregnancy

Uses: For chronic respiratory illness especially bronchitits and asthma. Indicated for cold, wet coughs. Promotes expectoration, is warming and soothing for mucous membranes. Effective against TB and whooping cough. Expels intestinal parasites like pinworm and giardia. Bitter-tonic to promote digestion. Bacteriacidal, fungicidal, sedative, anti-spasmodic, diaphoretic, antiseptic, and anti-bacterial.

Contraindications/Cautions: Because it has been used to promote menstruation, care is needed for use in pregnancy. Diabetics should use smaller amounts and approach with caution.

Personal Experience: I have very little experience with elecampane so I had a great time getting to know this plant. I tasted some of the root - a great bitter that produced a lot of saliva. (I gave some to my husband who looked at me like I played a practical joke on him.) I made some infused honey, tinctured some in Scotch Whiskey, and then dried some for later use. I also had a whole root ball with trailing roots, so I put that in the garden - we'll just have to wait and see.

I am looking forward to trying a cordial recipe that I found on Herbalpedia. It's basically infusing a syrup of elecampane root in port wine.

Cold Sore Care

Well, I took a little break from blogging, first because we had an intensive training here at ISM and then second because I came down with a cold for a week. It was a typical cold, sore throat, a little coughing, a little achiness and stuffiness. I never like getting sick, but it's always fun to be able to try different herbal allies. I drank a lot of elder tea and made some slippery elm lozenges that I learned about from herbmentor.com.

The worst of the sickness actually came at the end of the cold - the dreaded cold sore. I was thinking about it the other day and I think cold sores are the first things that I started treating naturally when I was a teenager, so I've learned a few things over the years. This time around I even learned a few more tricks.

It's best to head off a cold sore before it starts. I've done this in several ways. The first less herbal approach is to take a lot of lysine at the very hint of the tell tale tingle that says a cold sore is on it's way. I take as much as 3,000 mg every hour until it is gone. It is usually quite effective. I've heard it explained that cold sores occur when there is an imbalance of the amino acid arganine to lysine. Arganine can be found in beer, chocolate, peanuts, and grains, so I limit my intake of these foods as well.

I've also used St. John's Wort oil, again at the very onset of a cold sore. I've used both the oil straight as well as a lip balm that I made. This tends to work some times, but isn't as effective as the lysine. I've heard that lemon balm can be effective against cold sores, but I have never had this work for me.

The last thing I use, right at the onset, is tea tree oil. I apply it with a Q-tip straight to the spot that is tingling. This is also very effective.

In my past experience, once a cold sore has formed a blister, there is very little you can do to help it go away. At this point it just has to run it's course. I have a special salve I made up of cottonwood, plantain, and St. John's Wort that does help to alleviate pain. If my lip becomes swollen I use an ice cube to get the swelling down.

I first got the virus about 12 years ago. At first I would get cold sores often and seemingly for no reason. I was in high school at the time and terribly self conscious about having the herpes virus. At first I just stayed home when I had one, but later I went on prescription drugs to control the outbreaks. (Obviously I was a little different back then.) Over the years I tend to get them less and less and now only when I am sick.

Well, as I said the worst part of the cold this time around was the cold sore. I've never had one this severe before. My lip started tingling so I start my usual regimen, but nothing worked! Not lysine, or tea tree oil, or anything. It soon became apparent that this was not an ordinary cold sore. Instead of a small sore on my lip it was going to cover my entire lower right lip and part of my chin. I watched in horror as it grew in size and pain. My lip felt like a softball it was so big. I iced it to shrink it's size, but then of course the blisters started. I can't really explain to you how incredibly gross this thing was. It was so huge and puss was literally weeping down my chin. I was applying my favorite salve, which helped with the pain, but felt like I was going to have this monstrosity for a long while.

Finally, I thought, enough is enough. I am an herbalist, the plants will help me. I started getting ideas about wanting to create some kind of bandage around the wound. I experimented a little and here's what I came up with.

I grounded red clover flowers, chamomile flowers, and rose petals into a powder. I then added a little white clay and mixed it well. To this I added a little St. John's Wort Oil and a little water to form a nice paste and then applied this to the entire area. Immediately I felt better psychologically. Instead of having this horrible gaping wound on my face I now had some beautiful plants - just like a facial. :)

I chose the herbs for what I had on hand. Red Clover for it's alterative properties and because I always think of it as nourishing for the skin (probably due it it's action on the liver, but it felt like the right thing to put in there), chamomile for it's anodyne properties, and rose petals because I needed a little beauty at that point. I really wished that I had plantain, but unfortunately I had run out.

I let the mixture stay on my face for half the day, I wiped it off, and then re-applied. I slept all night with another application, which was great because it really helped to protect it while I was sleeping. The next day I was absolutely amazed. The cold sore had all but disappeared. I had expected this to last for a least a week, so it was shocking to me to see most of it completely gone.

This cold sore made me feel very grateful to be on the path that I am. It was empowering, once again, to be able to help myself heal.

I'd love to hear other people's remedies for cold sores.

Hemorrhoids and suppositories

Hemorrhoids thrombosis can be an uncomfortable and embarrassing situation. The symptoms include pain or burning when defecating, pain when sitting, itchiness, and bright red blood from the rectum. Everyone has hemorrhoids, hemorrhoid thrombosis is simply swollen blood vessels. There are many in-depth websites full of information about hemorrhoids - try googling it if you are looking for more information.

If you are looking for herbal solutions to hemorrhoids you know you have then read on. If you are unsure whether or not you have hemorrhoids, please seek medical help for a proper diagnosis. Hemorrhoids can easily be confused with other problems such as anal fissures.

I've never given much thought to hemorrhoids until a friend of mine got them after giving birth and asked me for help. She was very uncomfortable, so I suggested she make some herbal suppositories.

The recipes for suppositories can vary greatly, we just worked with what she and I had on hand.

1 cup of coconut oil
2 T powdered calendula buds
2 T powdered plantain leaf
2 T powdered comfrey leaf
2 T powdered yarrow leaf and flower
(I am guessing on herb amounts as small handfuls were ground and added in.)

Melt the coconut oil over medium heat - once it has liquefied add the powdered herbs and stir well. Remove from heat. As it begins to firm up keep stirring the oil so that the herbs are mixed in well. It should be a nice green color. Once the oil is mostly firm, use clean hands to form the green goop into smooth tampon shaped suppositories. Keep them stored in the freezer until ready to use.

To insert, just before going to sleep at night, lie on your side, find the right the opening for your anus and then insert gently. Your symptoms should clear up within a few days, but keep using the suppositories for a few days after that. If symptoms do not go away after several days, seek a holistically minded medical professional.

Instead of a suppository you can also do an herbal sitz bath with the above herbs. You don't want a lot of water in ratio to herbs, so a small amount of water with the herbs in a small tub should suffice. Let your booty rest in there for twenty minutes, twice a day until symptoms have gone away.

I chose the above herbs because they were what we had on hand. A variety of different herbs could be used. If you know your plant properties you can easily substitute different herbs. I was looking for soothing, demulcent herbs, vulnary herbs, astringent herbs, antiseptic herbs and anti-inflammatory herbs. Off the top of my head other herbs that could be used are slippery elm (demulcent), rose (anti-inflammatory and astringent), Geranium (antiseptic and astringent), etc.

Hemorrhoids can be caused by too much straining or bearing down (i.e. constipation or birth), sitting for too long, tight muscles or vigorous anal or vaginal sex. You probably know which one of these caused yours and you may want to take preventive care in the future.

If you frequently have swollen hemorrhoids changing your diet and increasing aerobic exercise might be appropriate. You may also find this blog post by Henriette to be helpful.

Tasty bread spread

One of our current students at the Institute of Structural Medicine (where I live and work) has dedicated his life to helping those with chronic disease. Dr. Paul Chhabra immigrated to the US over ten years ago and has spent more than twenty years in various fields of integrated health. He is an ayurvedic practioner, a physical therapist, and naturopathic physician, master herbalist, an author and more.

He has a very fascinating approach to chronic disease and he addresses nutrition, the lymph system and the fascial system. You can read more about him here as well as buy his latest book.

He is also an incredible chef. Give him twenty minutes in the kitchen and he will whip up healthy vibrant cuisines from all over the world. He left us with some bread seasoning last time he was here and we just can't get enough of it.

The following recipe is from his book, which is full of nourishing recipes.

Olive oil toast

1 1/2 teaspoons of ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons of dried parsley
1 1/2 teaspoons of toasted sesame seeds
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (optional)
1/4 teaspoon of garlic powder (optional)
1/4 teaspoon olive oil
Sea salt to taste (optional)

As I said we're using the seasonings he left behind, so I am not sure what optional ingredients he may or may not have used, but let me tell you it's delicious.

We take a heaping tablespoon of seasonings and mix with with about two tablespoons of olive oil and stir to make a paste. We then spread it onto some sprouted bread and toast it.

Top 9 Pro-active Choices for Health

I believe very strongly in taking personal responsibility for our health. Making informed choices in our every day lives is the first key to optimal health. Here is a list of nine choices I think are incredibly important for optimal health. (A later post will address things to avoid.)

1. Pay attention
Our bodies have incredible communicating abilities. If we are aware and attuned with our natural processes we will become easily informed of small mishaps within the body before they become disasters. By paying attention to our whole being we can realize the whole healthy beings that we all are. Paying attentions also means being aware of what gives you juice in life - to when you are most fulfilled, most joyous, and then living that way as best as you are able. Not living out our dreams is a sure fire way to health challenges.

2. Nourishing Herbal Infusions
I drink a nourishing herbal infusion every day. On the rare days I am unable, I really miss this health ally. Nourishing herbal infusions are like a powerful multi-vitamin that nourish our body. Since I've started drinking them daily there have been subtle, but important shifts in my body that would be hard to explain. More easily to explain is the lack of sickness I have had since drinking these daily. If you want to learn more about these infusions check out my earlier blogs.

3. Eating Organic Real Foods
When I was 23 years old I was diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disease the doctors said would first debilitate me then then kill me very young. There's nothing like a bad prognosis to get you inspired! After my initial diagnosis it took me about six months to get rid of all symptoms. I did multiple things during that time: acupuncture, energy work, and nutrition changes. I had always eaten very healthy. Even though I was raised in a small mormon town in Utah I sought out health food stores in unlikely nooks and crannies ever since I could drive. But, even though I was eating healthy, it was often "healthy" processed food.

(I am sure by now I don't need to list the incredible benefits of eating organic whether it be for the health of your body or the health of the planet, so I will assume we are on the same page with such a given.)

I no longer buy organic in a bottle or can. Everything we eat is fresh from the earth or fresh from the butcher. This has also made for much less fuss in the kitchen. Our meals are generally protein and veggies. So, Salmon and a Salad. Steak and Winter Squash. Chicken and Artichokes. Easy to cook, easy to clean, and absolutely scrumptuous.

Eating local is one of the most powerful things you can do for the health of the planet as well as the health of yourself, family and community. They say that most people's food has been shipped an average of 1500 miles before it reaches their plate. By eating food that has been shipped from so far away we lose our ability to take responsibility for our food. We don't know how this food was farmed, if the people who farmed it were treated fairly, we can't possibly know the damage that has happened because of the oil usage in the shipping of these foods. On the other hand by visiting your local farmer's market and getting to know your farmers you'll end up with dinner on your plate that you will have a connection with. The list could go on about the benefits of local food and on and there are plenty of other articles and books on the subject.

I also eat according to my Metabolic Type. This "diet" is a way of determining how individual bodies metabolize food and creating a lifestyle that is supported by that metabolic type. I really appreciate this method as it puts the responsibility of food choices in each person rather than making a generalized statement like: "the mediterranean diet is the healthiest way to eat." I am sure it is... for Mediterraneans.

When it comes to eating Real Foods there is an easy to way to determine if it's real or not. Just ask the question, did my ancestors eat this 200 years ago? No? Then you'd probably better stay away from it now.

4. Dance, Yoga, Qi gong
There's nothing like exercise - especially the kind that feeds your soul. Dancing is a given in our household. I've done yoga for many years now and really appreciate the many aspects of this ancient art. Qi gong is something I have only done through tapes and DVDs, but even still I have to say it's incredible powerful. The days I choose to do Qi gong in the morning are the days I am vibrant and full of energy.

5. Spend time outside
Being outside reminds me of why I am on this beautiful earth. Seeing this valley and our river teeming with life makes my heart swell and is a strong reminder of why I believe humans are here - to caretake all life. Being outside in the sunshine also has the practical application of giving me essential nutrients like Vitamin D.

7. Bodywork
Call me biased, I am a bodyworker, and I also absolutely love bodywork. Whether it's Structural Medicine, Craniosacral, Reiki, or general massage - I'll take it. Often seen as a luxury, I think it's a necessity. Regular bodywork can help us to avoid injury and prevent other structural problems before they start. And, as someone who regularly works with structural issues: It's much easier to solve them 20 years ago.

8. Say thanks
Upon waking, before eating, after eating, as the deer play in the yard, as I drink clear tasty water, as a client walks away with reduced pain, as I walk by my plant friends I give thanks. I give thanks to remind myself of all the good things in life. I give thanks, simply to give back.

9. Love and relationships
There's no greater thing on earth than love, whether it be love for ourselves, our partners, friends, family, the earth and the creatures we share it with.

I'd love to hear what your pro-active health essentials are.