There’s usually 1-2 tins, or more, floating around our home for all kinds of skin, nerve, muscle and connective tissue ailments.

Making infused oils can be an easy thing. It looks overwhelming at first but once you get it, it’s quite easy.

Here’s the quick lowdown on the process. My herbal course HERE gives more details and LOTS of recipes, ideas and guidance.

I use 1 cup chopped herb to 2 cups organic olive oil as my 1:2 ratio. This makes a bit so if you want to try a few herbs then make smaller batches butkeep the ratio of herb to oil consistent.

Use dried herb or allow fresh herbs to wilt a bit as water is not your friend when making infused oils and can cause spoilage. It is the one thing that makes oils rot in the apothecary.

​CLIFF NOTES ON MAKING HERB INFUSED OILS + HERBAL SALVES:

- Some use a blender to start them - optional step
- Some add 1 TB grain alcohol per 1 cup dried herb and toss, allow to sit for 15m, add your oil - this can helps preserve and extract - optional step

- Stir daily with a chop stick or 3-4x/week for a month
- Keep in warm place out of direct light
- Warming is optional - place in the lowest temperature warm oven and stir every 30m for 4h - you should have a color change and aroma unique to the plant which you learn by doing; then strain (this is the sped up way)

- Label and date everything carefully as you go.
- Gravity strain through muslin - no squeezing as this releases any water and sediment.
Allow to sit for an hour and any water or sediment will drop to the bottom of your bowl. Then pour off the good oil and toss the stuff stuck to the bottom.

- Store in glass in a dark closet or cabinet; label and date.
- Shelf stable for 12 months; 18 months if stored in frig.
-First decide what your purpose is for the salve as this directs which plants or essential oils you choose.

-Salves can be more solid at 1:4 ration and more soft at a 1:8 ratio which is more ointment consistency for covering larger areas of the body.

- Beeswax or vegan wax to oil is the ratio, so to every 1oz of wax add 4-8oz infused oil.
- Use double boiler - have containers laid out and ready.
- Warm just until wax melts, add infused oils and any essential oils you may be using.
- Once melted fully you pour into containers and allow to cool. You can add a sprinkle of dried herbs if you wish (optional but beautiful).

- Cap and make your label with all ingredients.

The ElderMoon Everything Salve  - buy from me at 1oz $12 and you're set for the year.

Or make yourself: My recipe is 2oz each of Calendula flower, Comfrey leaf, St. Johnswort infused olive oil, 1oz beeswax, 20 drops pure Rosemary Essential Oil. This makes 7oz total at a 1:6 (beeswax to oil) ratio.
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If you make a batch, then you have enough for your home and some 1oz gifts for loved ones. 1oz tins or glass jars are available through an easy google search - or repurpose ones that have already come through your life. 

You can make salve with a single herb or multiple herbs, depending on your needs. It’s useful to make a variety of herbal infused oils so that you can easily craft a salve whenever you need it.
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Make small batches and use them up. It’s food for the body and needs to be fresh like the food we eat.
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Arnica flowers: Can help treat physical trauma, bruises, strains, and occasional muscle pain. Use immediately after strenuous exertion or injury to prevent, relieve, and reduce swelling, bruises and pain.
Birch Bark: fresh whittled black or yellow birch bark is easily infused into oil and the wintergreen smell transfers to it. This is great for sore aching, overworked muscles, swollen joints, pain, congestion of lymph nodes and chest congestion.
Burdock root and leaf: For skin infections (leaf is stronger than root for this), contusions and swellings, good for sensitive skin folks,
Calendula flowers: Wonderfully healing with all-around healing properties useful for a wide variety of skin irritations and conditions including wounds, insect bites, rashes, scrapes, abrasions, cuts, and much more. Suitable for sensitive skin and babies.
Cannabis: a profound skin healer and nerve repair remedy for external use. Best first aid for burns, general beauty treatments, contusions, bruises, hematomas, cuts, scrapes. abrasions, and even rubbed over packed sinuses or lymphatic regions to drain them.
Cayenne Pepper: Warming, good for occasional sore muscles, alleviates occasional pain, and itching.
Chamomile flowers: Minor abrasions, cuts, scrapes, swellings, and wounds plus for chapped chaffed skin.
Chickweed: Soothing: helps with skin conditions erupting from within(eczema, psoriasis), minor burns, and other skin irritations.
Comfrey leaf and/or root: Relieves occasional pain, swelling, supports muscle, cartilage, and bone. Assists with healing a wide variety of conditions.
Elder Leaf or flower: green leaf oil has a long history of aiding in ceremonies and rituals as an anointing oil but also heals abrasions, wounds, swellings. The flower is often added to cereals as an elevated beauty treatment for skin rejuvenation.
Echinacea herb and/or root: Beneficial for minor sores, wounds, insect bites, and stings.
Ginger root: Warming, use for occasional sore muscles.
Goldenseal leaf and/or root: Useful for treating minor wounds, infected wounds, and ulcerative skin conditions.
Lavender flowers: Soothing, calming, relieves occasional pain, has healing properties beneficial for minor wounds and numerous skin conditions.
Mugwort: Helps speed the recovery process, relieves and soothes minor sores, bruises, blisters, contusions and swelling, and damaged skin.
Myrrh Gum powder: Used for cuts, scrapes, scratches, and abrasions.
Nettle leaf: An effective herb for many skin conditions.
Oregon Grape root: Skin disinfectant for minor wounds.
Peppermint (and menthol crystals): insect bites, bruising and contusions, tired or overworked muscle rubs for increased circulation and repair.
Pine: I love hemlock, white pine and spruce trees for this. Great for sore aching, overworked muscles, swollen joints, pain, congestion of lymph nodes and chest congestion.
Plantain leaf: Helps speed the recovery process, relieves and soothes insect bites and stings, poison ivy, itching, minor sores, bruises, blisters, and damaged skin.
Poke Root: for questionable moles snd unusual non-healing skin lesions. (Caution with making - wear gloves and keep your room well ventilated as this is a strong one - come learn more in my herbal course)
Rosemary: Helps speed the recovery process, relieves and soothes insect bites and stings, late stage poison ivy, itching, minor sores, bruises, blisters, swellings, and damaged skin. Also a great chest rub for congestion.
St. Johnswort: Craft the deep red-colored oil from fresh flowers. Beneficial for minor wounds, cuts, bruises, insect bites and stings, nerve support, scrapes, and minor burns.
Thyme: Used for cuts, scrapes, and occasional sore muscles, chest rubs for congestion.
Yarrow Flowers: Apply to bruises, minor wounds, cuts, scrapes, and areas with swelling and bleeding.
Yellowdock root: yes! It’s quite antiseptic and offers swelling reducing properties too.

There’s more but this is plenty. We have so many plants! Drop the overwhelm.
I know, it can get that way.

My hope is this inspires you to start simple with one plant.

Learn the steps and it will be so easy to make these amazing products for your body and to gift or sell to others.

As healthcare wobbles more and more we are called back to the plants and creating home apothecaries. This allows us to add to our primary healthcare with remedies from nature that the majority of the world still considers primary healthcare. Linking your apothecary to others to move resources (ie. medicinal plants) around is a form of currency. It wasn’t that long ago that we traded eggs for a salve. If each tribe / family has one person that takes this knowledge deeper and creates a working apothecary, they can supply the friends and family who are in need. It begins simply. Start with one plant and make one oil into one salve. Then get good at it! Do it again and expand your skills.

I’m here for questions and cheering you on for we need more homes with small working apothecaries, connected to other small working apothecaries.

Much love, Jen

Yield: 2oz/60ml spray bottle 
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It’s that time of year that we feel that need “to prepare”. It can rush in sometimes and have us scurrying. And sometimes we feel it and step into a pace that is more like a well versed kind of dance with the seasons. 

Welcome to the seasonal shifts that require a little extra care. 

I’m sharing how I make my customized herbal honey throat sprays to treat my family’s sore and scratchy throats and for early signs of cold or flu. This was birthed when I was sent to the ICU to take care of patients, my community members, while covid infected. I gifted this to other nurses working with me who were open this kind of medicine. 

When exposed, even with all the precautions, I remained calm, hand washed often, and kept my masks well-fitted. We wore goggles as the eyes are an entry point. Once my time is complete with caring for someone infected, I shower fully, and once home I used a netty pot for my sinuses with a mild salt and baking soda solution that I add 2 drops of usnea or goldenseal root tincture to. I scraped my tongue and sprayed my throat immediately, before bed, and upon waking. I also would use our sauna if I was very concerned, as long as I had no fever.

I made this throat spray for my time in the ICU and many nurses used it too when we were all very afraid as we watched many unusual deaths happen. 

For the home setting if you suspect you’ve been exposed to a virus and you're concerned, consider general frequent hand washing, pull up your deep rest skills, reduce stress while sleeping more, increase water intake and simple herbal infusions, and enlist the highest quality easy to digest food as part of your first response. We grab this herbal throat spray, along with other stronger internal immune support, when one of us becomes exhausted, watery-eyed, unexplained head or body aches, or feels that tickle or soreness/burn in the high sinuses or throat. 

I use raw honey in these, but you can substitute vegetable glycerine for a vegan product. Honey kills germs on contact plus gives added immunity support. That’s why it’s in the formula. Glycerine does not. You decide what’s best. 

Also, remember that store bought honey should not be given to children under a year old. I always gave our honey to my babies because the botulism concerns come from poor handling during mass production. 

I based my throat spray inspiration on a recipe found in Rosemary Gladstar’s book: Medicinal Herbs, A Beginner’s Guide. Back to basics is always a humble and empowering thing. Her recipe revolves around using tinctures, but if you prefer to avoid alcohol completely, you can substitute a strong herbal tea instead. It will have a limited shelf life but be a potent product nonetheless. Rosemary’s recipe with tinctures has added water to dilute it down a bit. She may have done this to ease the effects of alcohol on the throat and mouth mucosa. I’m not sure. I do not add water to mine because when formulating this I wanted the strongest remedy possible. I find it to be fine and the plants and honey buffer the sharpness of the alcohol just fine. Again, you can decide what is best for you and your family. 

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INGREDIENTS

• 3 1/2 tablespoon / 52 ml tincture of choice or a combination of antimicrobials you love and trust
• 1 ½ teaspoons / 8ml local raw honey 
• 7-8 drops of pure essential oil Eucalyptus (my favorite but lavender, rosemary, oregano, thyme, lemon balm can all work too.)

METHOD

1. Add all ingredients to a measuring cup with a pour spout. Stir to dissolve the honey well.
2. Pour into a 2oz/60ml mister bottle.
3. Add essential oil if using – it’s optional but potent with germs – you decide. 
4. Cap with the mister top and shake well. Test by spraying the back of your tongue and towards the back of your throat. We instinctively hold our breath – yes, please do – and prompt everyone in case they forget to take a deep breath in and hold before praying, extend the tongue and then spray well 3-4 times. 

YIELD: 2oz / 60ml

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Culinary Sage, White Sage, Oregano, Thyme, Rosemary, Wormwood, Spilanthes, Prickly Ash Bark,  Feverfew, Boneset, Chamomile flower, Bee Balm flower, Bloodroot, Oak leaf and bark, Witch Hazel bark, Burdock leaf, Apple leaves, Peach leaves, Echinacea flower and root, Osha root, Usnea lichen, Calendula flowers, Plantain leaf and root, Comfrey leaf and root, Propolis (not a plant but a resinous substance Bees make from resinous plants)

You can make it with just one of these plants or create your own formula.

We swallow the blend too so these all have immune support and anti-microbial actions that work from the inside out as well and are an intensive treatment that helps in the first few days when a virus attempts to enter the body. They can move through the eyes too which is why I lean heavily on the netty pot to wash them away. These simple actions can sometimes make all the difference. 

Our throat spray at ElderMoon currently has Propolis, White Sage leaf, Plantain leaf & root, Echinacea Root, White Pine needle and bark, raw Honey, pure organic Eucalyptus essential oil. We get rave reviews and many report the benefits of “knocking it out” within the first few days among all ages.

Finally, you need to delegate the DIY thing for now until you get more time, supplies, energy? No problem. I have it ready for you. Thank you for delegating when you need to. Link below.
​Much Love, Jen

Your spice cabinet is a well-known and potent medicine chest among herbalists. Keeping it well stocked and fresh will support food preparations but also medicine making that you may need at unexpected times.

No one wants to drive to a store to get needed remedies when we’re feeling sick. 

Let’s take a look at the medicinal qualities of some of our ingredients often found in your kitchen and why this delicious and potent cough syrup is a quick and easy to make remedy even when you’re not feeling well. 
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INGREDIENTS:

• 1 TB dried Rosemary (or 2 TB fresh chopped) 
• 1 TB dried Thyme (or 2 TB fresh chopped)
  
• Optional: 1 teaspoon dried Elecampane root (boosts the lung clearing even more) 
• 1 Lemon - zested peel
• 1 Lemon juiced
• 1 inch Ginger root - grated or sliced thin
• 1 cup boiled water
•  ½ cup Honey or agave 

INSTRUCTIONS: 

1. Add thyme, rosemary, elecampane root if using, ginger root and lemon zest to an 8oz heat safe mason jar and fill with boiling water, cap, wrap in a dish towel to keep the heat in, and allow to steep until warm to the touch. Maybe 2-3 hours. 
2. Strain your strong tea into large measuring cup, add lemon juice and honey or agave. Stir well and taste it. Adjust sweetness to your liking but keeping it not too sweet is better. 
3. Pour into a jar for storing in the refrigerator and label with ingredients and date. 
4. Dosing: 1-2 tablespoons every 4 hours while awake with active cold/flu symptoms. Continue for up to 10 days if needed. 

Easy kitchen medicine is at your fingertips. Ancient ways of healing have profound effects on our health and provide us with ways to stay home and practice the fine art of convalescence, meaning stay in bed with intermittent activity to exercise deep breathing. May you and your family thrive as we all learn to walk with the plants and the microbial world in this world we share. It’s all about boundaries.

Most herbal syrup recipes include a slow long simmer to reduce the amount of water and extract the medicine. Here with aromatic plants like Rosemary and Thyme, we loose much of the aromatics which are part of the medicine with a slow simmer process. Your house will smell great and you will inhale some of this which is great, but it will not be in your syrup which is what I want. So I simply reduced the water amount, traded the simmer for a slow infusion, and leaned on a capped jar method with extra time to keep all of the medicine in the syrup.

Many blessings to you. Send along any questions. 💚

Much Love, Jen

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Why Rosemary?
Being incredibly antimicrobial is why I add it here. It also supports digestion and gut health and circulation which is more stagnant during convalescence when sick. It has nti inflammatory and antispasmodic properties and so eases pain and reduces swollen mucus linings of the airway to free up deep breathing.  

Rosemary is considered safe for most people in culinary amounts and has few side effects to consider should you take it in therapeutic medicinal amounts. Some people who should avoid it in medicinal amounts:

• Pregnant women should not use rosemary in large amounts (cooking is fine) and should avoid the essential oils.
• Breastfeeding women should also avoid large amounts of rosemary as there’s not enough known about how it affects this population and their babies.
• Those with an aspirin allergy should not take medicinal amounts of rosemary.
• Those with seizure or bleeding disorders should also avoid large amounts of rosemary.
• Rosemary can raise blood pressure in some at medicinal doses, so it may not be safe for those with elevated blood pressure.

If you’re unsure, check with your herbalist to see if rosemary is safe for you. Rosemary is best taken for a few weeks at medicinal doses and then reduced to being in formula with other herbs for extended dosing.

Culinary use in food preparations is considred generally safe for most people. 

This is simply delicious and easy to eat and will bring therapeutic doses of Hawthorn and Rose into the system on a daily food level.

I often suggest this as an alternative to tinctures for cardiac support and blood pressure management, particularly of one is not wanting alcohol based products like tinctures.

One tablespoon a day is a therapeutic dose and an easy medicne to take too, right off the spoon!. 

If you purchases your berries and hips by the pound for a discounted fee then you will have plenty for 2-3 more batches. 

I love this over goat cheese or brie, yogurt, or spooned over a warm dessert with whipped cream. Please seek chemical free ingredients to support potent medicine making, farmers, wildcrafters, and the land that grows us all.


INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup Hawthorn Berries, fresh or dried
• 1 cup dried Rose Hips, seedless cut/sifted
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup honey (agave, rice syrup and maple syrup work too)
• 1 TB Lemon Juice
• Zest of 1 Lemon
• 1 TB Vanilla Extract
• 1/2-1 tsp Cinnamon Powder
• 2 TB Ginger Root, finely minced 
• 2 Cup water

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Boil Hawthorn Berries in the water for 30 minutes at the lowest simmer, covered. Turn off and allow to sit for 1-4 hours covered. Strain and keep liquid, compost solids.
2. Return liquid to a pot and bring to a simmer, turn heat off and add the Rose Hips and ginger root, give a stir and cover. Let sit for ½ hour.
3. Place all in the blender. Add all other ingredients and blend. This is like pudding and thick so add very small amounts of water if needed, just enough to keep the blender able to work.
4. Strain, or push through a sieve – not too fine – just catch any stray seeds and any solids that may have made it through. It will thicken more and more as it cools so work through the seive while warm and scrape the under side as you go.

To Use/Dosing: 1 Tlb/ day is therapeutic for the heart. Stirred into plain yogurt or use any way you use jam.

Yield: about 2-2 ½ cups – store in refrigerator and use up. You can make larger batches but freeze some for it will keep about 4 weeks in the frig thanks to the lemon, honey and ginger which are good for the heart and have preservative properties.

You can absolutely play with adding and substituting some ingredients here. I have added black cherry syrup, natural flavor extracts, powdered cardamom and clove, astragalus root powder, schisandra berry powder, lime, orange or grapefruit instead of or with the lemon. Keep the proportions tended so you have the same consistency of a jam but do play with it if you're inspired. Make it your recipe and absolutely share it please. Good heart medicine is needed by us all as we move forward in this ever changing existence.

Much Love, Jen 


REFERENCE: Healing Tonics by Jeanine Pollak

INGREDIENTS:

• 12 oz fresh elder berry smashed a bit with a muddler (Sambucus canadensis or S. nigra) berry -OR - 6oz dried* - simmer these (fresh or dried) for 5 min in a small pan with barely enough water to cover. This neutralizes the seeds which carry a bit of harsh alkaloids
• 4-6 fresh garlic cloves (Allium sativum) unpeeled is fine, rough chopped
• 1/2-1 cup fresh grated horseradish root - depending on your tolerance
• 1-2 fresh onion (Allium spp.), any variety is fine - peeled and chopped
• 1 thumb-sized piece fresh ginger (Zingiber officinale) rhizome, grated or chopped
• 2-3 fresh chili peppers (Capsicum annuum), chopped - seeds are optional but good for thinning secretions. 
• 1-2 sprigs fresh Rosemary branches - remove leaves and chop
• 1 lime zested + juice - you can use lemon instead if you desire
• 1 stick of cinnamon + a few cloves, or sprinkle of each as a powder. Option: add 1 star anise which is lovely and quite antiviral as well. 
• 32 fl oz apple cider vinegar - or more may be needed.
• Honey to taste - added after strained in 1 month.
• 1/2 gallon jar

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Combine all ingredients into a clean, half gallon-sized glass jar.
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2. Pour enough apple cider vinegar over the ingredients until they’re completely covered.

3. Cover the jar with parchment paper before capping with a lid or use a plastic lid to prevent corrosion of the metal that will spoil the contents. Seal the jar tightly and shake it well. Check the vinegar level the next day and add more if the level drops, which it does from absorption, or from fairies sipping it is what is said in many traditions. 

4. Let the mixture sit in a cool, dark place for 4 weeks, shaking it 3-5x/week or daily.

5. Strain the liquid through a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth and squeeze the goodness out as best you can.

6. Add honey or other sweetener to taste for finding that tangy-sweetness. This is optional too. You decide.
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7. Pour into clean glass bottles. Label with ingredients and date too.

Store your fire cider in the refrigerator for up to 6-8 months. This helps keep the lovely dark purple color of the elderberry too. It is shelf stable for 3 months outside of the frig. 

DOSING: To use, dilute and sip 1 ounces (2TB / 30ml) in water (or diluted grape juice and water or seltzer 1:1 is delicious). Sip during an acute illness or if you know you’ve been exposed to something every 4-6 hours while awake. Yes, you can take this daily as a preventative tonic or sip slowly to promote good strong digestion before or after meals as well.

As summer eases on through, it’s honestly been rather brutal with heat and humidity here in New York. Every summer delivers this in New York.

But cooler nights have arrived and late August into September always delivers this welcomed shift. 

The plants change too. Already I can see leaf colors shifting that only come with temperature changes. HERE is why if you're interested in the science. 

We had an amazing boom of a crop of elderberries this year. Now it could be because I pruned for the first time ever last Imbolc. And I will do this every February as it keeps the Elders much stronger I've learned. Berry abundance can also be because we will need them and our gardens and wild places do speak to us this way with abundance at needed times, when of course they have the resources to do so.

We’ve been making this Elderberry Fire Cider recipe for decades now as an easy way to prepare for Autumn, through Winter, and into Spring to meet the challenges our bodies feel with these season changes.

Fall and Spring are harder on the body than deep Summer or Winter. There’s more change, fluctuations, and turbulence that our bodies have to navigate and respond to.
This recipe deserves space in your home apothecary. Make it yours with little changes you’re inspired to make. It becomes a beautiful gift to your loved ones too when you make it in quantity. Go ahead and make a 1/2 gallon or 1 gallon. It will keep in the frig for the whole winter through spring when germs are doing their opportunistic thing and trying to move around among us as we get weary from winter. This will keep you restored and strong. 

Boundaries with the microbial world happen on the daily all day long inside these bodies. And they're not all pathological either. Let’s drink Elderberry Fire Cider to retore some internal balance while we contemplate such things, such as our cellular level agreements. Enjoy! XO-Jen

Impressive.

I planted them here next to each other so I would not have to be in the loop of deciding.

It took 10 years for Nettles and Mugwort to make the decision between them known to those of us watching and learning.

This slow kind of landscape change where we learn as we go is nothing new. When I gardened in a flood plain for 6 years I learned who could withstand being underwater for a week. That included Comfrey, Yarrow, Hops, all mints, Poke, Lemongrass, Plantain, and more tenacious ones of course. Nettles can too! I also learned how vital the fish left behind in the walkways of receding water were chosen by death and the task of feeding the soil. It’s a tall order for all of us one day. My two older sons and I had many rescue missions nonetheless with 5 gallon buckets working until it was just ridiculous. Each year we did less and less. There are many reasons and risks to take when gardening and farming in fertile flood plains.

The property we live on now for 18 years has gone through many transformations as we shift a landscape with our presence included with the resident plants and the massive amount of water that moves through this property. I’m a different kind of house buyer now because of the three properties we lived on. Two things that bother me the most here are they would never be able to build on a property like this now due to the water table being a foot away from the ground surface in half the property, AND... they faced our house north. Why?! Passive solar placement of homes today is often not considered.

We remain for now continuing to learn from this land and I look for ways to align. It employs energy efficiency for starters. And it also slows us down, in a good way. Time delivers the lessons as things grow and die. Your relationship to death, even the little daily ones, improves. It falls into the slow cooking movement that is finally among us as we work to grow food AND medicine for the kitchen and home apothecary. Things rushed are different than things slowly received.

We compost in a single row each year making a long pile that is about three feet high, cover with leaves before winter hits, and every spring enjoy the black gold of nutrient dense soil made easy by aligning with time and all the soil microbes to do their thing. It takes time. I’m not a subscriber to fancy formulas and daily to-dos to get soil made fast. Some things just take time, and less effort, to get a better finished thing.

Another thing learned is to place gardens in “problematic” areas. These would be areas where rocks and tree stumps, mature trees, and marshy spots reside. They’re only problematic for moving a lawn mower around and so if you want less of this, the plants will accommodate and populate the space while providing food, medicine, and beauty.

These are things we all need to be well.

This year a dear friend, Horsetail, arrived on the scene. What a grand gesture as I have a patch I hike to deep in the forest a few miles to harvest from for decades now. The annual pilgrimage remains, but now I get to leave them with so much gratitude for how time delivers the medicine. Here’s a link to the Monthly Herbal Council titled “The Tale of Horsetail” (password: horsetail) I’d like to share that will explain more about why herbalists love this ancient plant that used to be the size of trees. It also explains why modernized farmers hate it. We have much to repair. LOVING Horsetail is a start.
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I’ll keep it short in saying it builds structure and strength internally for our connective tissues, bones, teeth and nails. And in biodynamic gardening style, it does the same for plants used as a foliar spray, particularly when mold, powdery mildew, and things like black spot is present. This can be an issue with very wet properties like we have here. A diluted Horsetail infusion is the simple spray to remedy the situation towards balance. It reminds the plants to strengthen their cells and tissues and creates a good boundary balance with excessive fungal growths on their bodies. Sometimes I add a little Tobacco and Oregano to the tea if things are looking bleak as these two will deter the fungus a bit while the Horsetail helps the plants strengthen their cell walls. 

I have the pleasure of harvesting where the water is high and Horsetail is here to thrive in such an environment. The patch is huge for a first year appearance.
And once again the lesson of aligning with time shows that the medicine needed will come.

The political act of gardening is well described in this book published back in 2006, Food Not Lawns, By H.C. Flores.

The history of the grass lawn is political. And it’s so political that there are now laws and local codes that demand lawns for “curb appeal” as if a garden is not beautiful, functional and community building with plant and seed exchanges for one thing. It’s deeper than this though.

Preventing growing food and medicine is woven into the political story.
This book is worthy of at least a listen if you can find it through an audio book platform, or a library borrow for an actual read. It became a book in my library after a borrowed read.

Building resiliency and resistance is at the root of developing garden spaces. It takes time. It takes doing nothing and watching as nature speaks to us about the flow of vital resources that provide for our families and our communities of plants, animals, microbes, bugs, and people. If you find yourself frustrated with some aspect about the land where you live, sit with it. Pan out for a more expanded view of what is trying to happen. Again, it takes time to align with the efficiency lessons of Nature.

I share a little of how things unfold and change here and continue to do so as we continue to create with a large pallet of diverse colors, textures, plants, trees, bugs, microbes, fungi, and even resident wild animals that inform our process.

The political act of growing your own medicine and sharing in some capacity with your community is an act of cooperation with the collapsing medical systems that are always political. There is simply no good reason for us all to not have good modern medicine healthcare in this day and age. The cooperation comes from mutual respect that there is enough for us all. Good modern science walking along side the thousands of years of clinical trials that herbal medicine has provided can create cooperation among us instead of feeding competition based in greed and fear.

With one garden at a time, we do the work. 

We make a stand when we create our little gardens and share what we harvest along with what we know through showing up again and again to the lessons. With politics so complex today, the garden offers a respite to get clear about what really matters and gives strength to show up to the other harder lessons in life as we witness the uncooperative nature of humans. The created garden helps us remember how to keep moving forward towards a cooperative future. And it will require resilience and resistance at times. And the garden in return cultivates this in us. 

Make dirt. Plant for the hummingbirds, or the the resident woodchuck present to teach a thing or two. Designate wild places where you just watch. Know that watching and doing nothing for a while is something. Learning to listen is a thing.
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May your day be relaxing with a slow morning at the start and a hot cup of something to drink. 💚Jen

Here’s a little share on something new that may inspire you to consider medicine in a different way.

Let’s begin with a Haudenosaunee Iroquois legend.

There was a terrible conflict between five different nations of people. This conflict was rooted in cycles of pain, revenge, and chaos. A messenger of peace sent from the Great Spirit, the “Peacemaker,” sought to unite the five warring tribes. After convincing them to unite, they came together to make peace, but they still carried their weapons. The Peacemaker uprooted a White Pine tree and had them throw all of their weapons into the hole. He then replanted the tree, and the underground waters carried away the weapons. On the tree, the needles grew in clusters of five, to represent the five nations who came to find peace. The roots of the tree spread out in four directions, to the north, south, east and west; the roots are called the roots of peace. An eagle perched on top of the tree to watch over the roots of peace. Under the tree, the branches spread wide for all to gather.

It is from this Native American story that we can understand why the White Pine, Pinus strobus, is called the “Tree of Peace” and why the White Pine carries such power here through our landscape where it thrives.

Here we explore White Pine's peaceful energy, medicine preparations, and archived talk on all the good things White Pine can help with condition-wise, plus a different kind of preparation that you can make fresh, and a few other archived helpful items that seemed to fit.

I learned how to make this from a friend and healer from Japan. To keep privacy intact I will share a truncated version of a shared story that sparked my interest deeply.

​A patient with stage 4 lung cancer and in treatment was in their 50s and ended up hospitalized for a stroke. While in the hospital their family spoke with an older, trusted, and very wise traditional herbalist healer who taught them how to make this and said to bring into the hospital for them to sip 2oz. per day. The plan was to help with the stroke. BUT … to the medical staffs surprise (and everyone else) in 2 weeks the patient's lung cancer disappeared AND their stroke symptoms were improving twice as fast as usual. So my friend started taking this intermittently for themself and noticed marked improvement in a static condition they were working with that was not nearly as intense as a stroke or stage 4 lung cancer, but definitely a chronic stubborn condition of the skin and connective tissue deep in their body.

So naturally I LOVE White Pine and I trust this tree deeply. I would climb 60 feet into the top of one to take naps away from the traumatic childhood events I was enduring as a five year old. I learned to see things differently up there. I also learned to hang out with the birds and would bring them homemade bread so the parents didn't work so hard to feed their big family of hungry babies. We would eat together up there and enjoy the sway from the breeze and the sun warming us.

​So I decided to start taking this myself for no other reason than I trusted this tree so deeply and the tonic effects that it can deliver systemically to build resilience, resistance, and a generalized clearing of the body, mind, and spirit. I also was asking for guidance for if this would help two family members. One has lingering long covid lung issues and the other is working with a large 4.41 cubic cm pineal gland growth per MRI serial studies and is currently considered operable but the docs have decided to stay in surveillance mode. The main symptoms are affecting them cognitively with no seizure, debilitating pain, or vomiting at this time. I'm grateful for less intense symptoms and yet it's incredibly strange for me. The neurologist docs and surgeons and psychiatrists do not sit at the same table and yet they work in the same system of the body. There is a generalized fear and lack of understanding between them and they often refuse to share with each other in the care. We have more work to do for this grand canyon gap to be bridged for the sake of healing via modern medicine.  We have found a tiny number of dual certified MDs in Neurology and Psychiatry we are moving towards. Having this gap somewhat bridged within a single human looks like the direction we will move in. 

​It's a story for another time as more unfolding is achieved.

So White pine as tincture is already in my family's care regime but a fresh non-heated, non-alcohol based remedy was intriguing for the enzymatic possibilities along with other unknown compounds that may be sensitive to temperature or solvent chemistry.
Both family members are open to taking this so we began a few weeks ago and I will report back as things shift. As for me, and them as well, we all love the clinking of our little glasses as we swig together and feel the incredible opening from all the essential oils captured well in this process. The fresh aromatic pine smell wafts up and down the airways as it gives a tingling and opening sensation to the throat and belly. It’s pleasant and not hard to take.

The plan is to take daily for a few months and then pause and re-evaluate. An update will be posted for you in this on-going journey with White Pine tending my family.

My suggestion is the same. Pulse it with a period of taking and a period of rest without it. The body loves this. I also feel the oils are potent and to be safe we pulse small amounts.

Thanks for traveling here. Let me know if you try this process with White Pine, or maybe you decide to juice another plant you know you need that lends itself to safe administration this way. If you are unsure, shoot me a message and we will figure it from all angles in order to make safety a top priority for you.

UPDATE 9/28/25: Both family members have experienced improvements. The breathing issues of one has near disappeared for him. The pineal gland growth of my other family member has reduced to 2.07 cubic cm per MRI scan this month. I'm happy as we continue to move forward.  

Ingredients:

• 1 small handful white pine needles stripped from the branches - you can add or reduce the amount once you get the hang of this preparation.
• 1 cup water (or coconut water)

Instructions:
1. Place needles and water in a blender and blast on high for a good minute. Let sit 5 minutes and do again.
2. Strain using a fine mesh strainer. Compost needle remains and drink this juice 1-2 ounces / 30-60ml per day in a pulsed rhythm.
3. Store the remainder in frig. for next day or see below for freezing suggestions.


NOTE: To be honest I like to finish it the day I make it for I believe it is most potent in the first day. And yes, sometimes we offer to visiting friends who are interested in trying it. Yes, I freeze in ice cube trays to send off to my family’s freezers for daily dosing. They defrost 2 cubes in a little more water and drink that per day. We all get a swig of it fresh before the cubes are made.
​
Can we make with other pines? Yes, as long as they are safe medicine species so do your homework please. If unsure then DO NOT ingest until you know what tree you have.

White Pine has no look-a-likes and has easy to count 5 soft long needles that are arranged in clusters of along the branch.
Enjoy considering a new way and maybe try for a week as good spring or fall seasonal  tonic. 

EMS Harvesting Tree Bark Article
Recipe: White Pine Cough Drops


Archived Monthly Herbal Council #61 White Pine Medicine - 1 hr talk

• RECORDING HERE
• PASSWORD: whitepinetree

And A Few ElderMoon Apothecary Products:
WHITE PINE - Fresh Needle & Bark TINCTURE
White Pine & Elderberry Immune Elixir

For every pot of bone, vegetable, or mushroom broth, I often add 2-3 tablespoons of this blend to enhance the immune support. This was inspired by being a mom of three sons and making so much broth to keep five of us well fed immunity-wise. I've made this for years and sold many, many bags to customers and clients in deep need of simple, bone-deep healing medicine.

Now I share the recipe and have returned to just making my own for family and friends.
A jar of this makes the very best gift for the holidays as we need extra support to finish out each winter season strong. 

This is one to know and have in your home apothecary. Adjust ingredients as you are called to. Make it your recipe, and by all means, share it with your people! I find I usually only have to make one batch a year. Store in a glass jar ready for use.

Jen's Deep Immune Broth Dried Herb Blend

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 parts Astragalus root, dried
• 3 parts Burdock root, dried
• 3 parts Ginger root, dried
• 2 parts Siberian ginseng root, dried
• 1 part Angelica root, dried - Dong Quai works well too.
• 2 parts Shiitake mushroom, dried (you can slice and dry fresh ones or purchase dried.)
• 2 parts Turkey Tails mushroom, dried (cut to slices with scissors if dried whole.)
• 2 parts Reishi mushroom, dried (shave dried whole reishi with a wood rasp.)
• 1/2 part Garlic, granulated dried
• 1/2 part Thyme, dried
• 1/2 part Rosemary, dried
• 3 Star Anise
• 1 teaspoon whole Cloves
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds

INSTRUCTIONS:
- Grind (in a dedicated coffee grinder or mortar and pestle) the hard aromatics of star anise, clove, and fennel seeds to small pieces like coffee grinds. These aromatics are optional but add immune and gut support, and great flavor. 
- Add to bowl with all other ingredients and mix gently to keep the dust down. Fill jars with tight fitting lids. Label with ingredients and instructions, and the date. Store in a cabinet or dark pantry.


TO BREW:
Add 2 tablespoons to a pot of stock you're making and simmer as usual.

Simply simmer 2-3 TB plus some salt and pepper and tablespoon of ghee, coconut oil or butter (we need the fat and it tastes good too!) - add all of this to 8 cups of water for a slow covered simmer of 30m. Let sit another 30-60m to infuse and cool a bit. Strain, adjust the seasoning of salt/pepper, or more water if too strong tasting. Sip and enjoy! 

TO DOSE AS MEDICINE:
Drink 3-4 mugs. 1 every few hours while awake. Or have 2 bowls of soup using this as your base for when you feel sickness coming on, lingering or resisting leaving your body. 
​
Here's my original article with my recipe for Deep Immune Broth that inspired the making of this dried herb one. We all need a few tricks in the kitchen. One is having many ways to get to a big pot of healing broth to sip.

​Enjoy my friend. Much Love, Jen 

​One of the most satisfying things I make is skin cream! I learned how over 30 years ago because my face was full of rashes and bumps from the chemical chaos of commercial creams. Once you learn this skill, like anything else, it becomes an integrated healthcare thing that's easy. I have a basket dedicated to my cream making things that sits in my apothecary. We need some basic kitchen equipment, great music, and uninterrupted time. 

There's a large more detailed PDF in my ElderMoon School herbal medicine course, Birthing an Herbalist In 13 Moons - (DETAILS HERE) - with more on making cream, the chemical chaos of commercial creams out there, and other remedies for supporting healthy glowing skin. Yes, rest, clean eating, plenty of good water, meaningful work, play and relations all affect our largest organ of elimination, OUR SKIN. 

This post gives you the recipe and basic instructions to just get started and get some experience with simple ingredients and the technique.

Enjoy. XO - Jen

This recipe given with weighs and exactly how I make it now.  Use a kitchen scale that has a tare button so you can subtract the container for super accurate weight measuring. This ensures more consistency and success with your recipe. 

WEIGH YOUR "WATER" INGREDIENTS

• 3 oz. distilled water, or hydrosol
• 1 tablespoon of aloe gel – optional but include in the weight of the ‘water’ part
• 1 pinch of Borax mineral*

WEIGH YOUR "OIL" INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 oz. EACH organic Calendula and organic Rosemary infused Olive Oil
• 3 oz. organic Grapeseed Oil
• ½ oz. Avocado Butter OR Cocoa Butter
• ¼ tsp Vitamin E Oil - prick a few gel caps open with a pin if need been 
• 1/2 oz. Beeswax (1 tablespoon Beeswax pastilles)
• 8-15 drops each of essential oil of Rosemary or Lavender

​

Optional Preservation Help: Add a homemade Grapefruit extract as a small swirl to finished whipped cream. Not too much or your emulsion will break like the way lemon can in hollandaise sauce making. Check out the video in our video section on how to make an easy batch of grapefruit extract that will last years in your apothecary and why it helps with many other thungs related to our health. If adverse to this then you can add Calendula or Rosemary Tincture (30 drops to "water" part of recipe).

*Optional - Pinch of Borax - natural mineral crystal that softens water and helps emulsify – often used to soften water for the laundry machine and that's where you find it, in the laundry soap area at grocery store; one box will last your whole life for this and costs a few dollars. We have hard water so I add this to my laundry and have it around already.


INSTRUCTIONS - read through before you begin so we can imprint your brain on the steps as you go. 

1. In a double boiler, melt weighed beeswax first and then add other oils and warm until all is just melted.

2. Measure on zeroed (press the tare button) scale the water part(s) and drizzle into warm oil part whisking gently. Decide if your using Calendula or Rosemary tincture too as this needs to be added here in the "water" part. 

3. Continue to gently whisk. Remove from the heat once uniform in texture. Do not over heat!

4. Begin the cooling process with placing this bowl with your warmed ingredients into a cool water bath in a larger bowl in your sink and keep gently whisking until you see it beginning to solidify on the edges. Scrape the edges and keep whisking the solids into the center. It will look opaque as it starts to emulsify with cooling down. 

5. Whip until cooled a few minutes and then add essential oils and grapefruit seed extract if using. Whip a little more until cool by hand or with a hand mixer.

6. Do not over whip or your emulsion will “break” and separate. Do not add too much essential oil or it could break with these too.  
​
7. Spoon into wide mouth jars immediately and cap. It will set up more in a few hours. Do NOT wait on this step or it will be too thick to transfer well to your jars. You can double this recipe.

We fill 4oz. jars and distribute through the house, one to each person plus one in each bathroom. Extras are stored in the frig until needed. We make enough for 2-3 months at a time. 

Here's an archived video of me giving a demo from years ago. 

​And if you're needing some cream without the strain of learning just yet, I have ya covered. 
​
LINK: ​ELDERMOON's CREAM TO ORDER.  

ENJOY. Much Love, Jen

​There is plenty.

I had only enough luck to score one plant this year. One little organically cultivated plant costs 4-6$. It’s getting harder to find and for good reason. Growing your own is easy and insures there is abundance. At anywhere from 3$ up to 8$ for one stalk in wintertime at the grocery stores, you can understand why. Scoring two plants makes me happier to be honest but there will be enough.

Harvest time? It takes 2-3min per plant. Move carefully around it. You can see how I “comb it back”, the leaves are quite sharp at the edges and give little paper cuts if we move without awareness. You can always wear long sleeves too. The rest of the prep includes clipping the tops for making tea rings or cut with a scissor to 1 inch pieces and dry, clean off dirt at the bottom, cut off any roots, separate and cut stalks into workable pieces that can be frozen.
​
When I pull pieces out of the freezer for tea or cooking, I smash it along the stalk a bit with a kitchen mallet to open it up, or peel it down to the soft, aromatic inner core, and then prep as you’ve been taught.

Lemongrass, Cymbopogon citratus of the Poaceae family, is native to Sri Lanka and South India, and is now widely cultivated in the tropical areas of America and Asia. It’s an aromatic grass and gives amazing visual texture to your garden landscape.

For us in non-tropical regions, it is grown as an annual with spring planting and fall whole plant harvesting as it will not tolerate winter temperatures.

Let’s Brush Up - Medicinal Action Terms for Lemongrass

This plant is woven into many things as a fragrance (essential oil) and flavoring agent as well as being part of our oldest folk medicine systems as an antispasmodic (relaxes muscle spasms), hypotensive (reduces blood pressure), anticonvulsant (reduces seizures), analgesic (reduces pain), antiemetic (reduces vomiting), antitussive (relaxes spasmodic unproductive coughs), anti-rheumatic (reduces inflammation in joints and connective tissues to the joints), antiseptic (anti-microbial) and treatment for nervous and gastrointestinal disorders and febrifuge (reduces fevers). The plant is also used as an antibacterial, antidiarrheal and antioxidant, but the mode of action for these different bioactivities has not been studied in detail. I find it to be a potent mood enhancer too. It soothes our internal systems so they work together well and we just feel better internally. This elevates us on my levels.

AND new research is showing Lemongrass administered as an aromatherapy remedy is stopping cell replication in glioblastomas, the most aggressive of brain cancers.

Impressive.

Lemongrass contains various phytoconstituents such as flavonoids and phenolic compounds, terpenoids and essential oils, which are surely responsible for the different biological activities.
It’s easy to make and easy drink and accepted by even the most finicky of folks.
I add it to broth / stock making, simple tea on its own, deserts, medicines and infused vinegars.
Lemongrass Tea Making:

• Rough chop or smash lightly with a mallet one 4-6 inch stalk or 2 TB dried leaves or one tea ring.
• Simmer slowly in 2 cups of water for 5-10 minutes with pit lid on.
• Strain and sip. It’s so delicately delicious that it needs nothing else. Enjoy.

Keeping it brief. 

Be sure to look in our archived videos on how to make the lemongrass tea rings and how to harvest as an annual in colder climates. 

Much Love 💚Jen

Tulsi also goes by the name Holy Basil and is a basil but yes, it's uniquely and boldly different than culinary Basil (Ocimum basilicum). Although they do have some overlapping properties and applications. I find Tulsi is a bit more adaptable to the general and ever changing garden conditions than Culinary Basil from Italy. This is just a personal observation and experience. When all conditions are great for both, Tulsi grows faster too.  

Tulsi and Basil are both in the Mint family (Lamiaceae or Labiatae). For review, all mints have:

• Square stems, which can be easily discovered by rolling the stem between the fingers to feel the four sides meeting at right angles;
• Opposite leaves—each pair of leaves emerging from the same level, on opposite sides of the stem (unique to Tulsi is the fuzzy, hairy stem) 
• “Lipped” flowers—blossoms shaped like open mouths, the upper and lower lips of varying sizes, depending on the species.
• Most, but not all, mints are aromatic, with volatile oils that give the plant a strong aroma and taste (basil, thyme, rosemary, lavender etc). These oils are part of their immune system for defending themselves. And more!
• These fragrant volatile oils found in most mints are antibacterial, antifungal, antimicrobial, antiseptic. Volatile oils are easily transported from fresh plants to hot water, when steeped briefly as a tea, but not brewed for hours (sun tea or herbal infusion), because they become intense, altered, and bitter.   

THE MANY TYPES OF TULSI
There are at least three different varieties or species of Tulsi - Holy Basil, and while they can be used somewhat interchangeably, they also have their slight differences in appearance and taste.

TULSI RAMA (OCIMUM TENUIFLORUM)
Tulsi Rama is the most common species grown in India and easiest Tulsi to find in seed to grow.  It likes to grow in full sun with moderate water and fertile well-draining soils. Rama is known for its cooling and mellow flavor. The plant has green leaves, white-to-purplish blossoms, and a green or purplish stem.

TULSI KRISHNA (OCIMUM TENUIFLORUM)
Tulsi Krishna tastes peppery and has darker green to purple leaves, purple stems, and blossoms. It's has a sturdier stem for me in feel.

VANA (OCIMUM GRATISSIMUM)
Vana, aka “Forest-type” Tulsi, grows wild on roadsides and in waste places. It has large green leaves and stem, with white blossoms and the plant can easily attain 5 feet tall.  Vana Tulsi can overwinter indoors in a container with window sunlight. It can be transplanted in the garden when spring returns.

The most common way to prepare Tulsi is as a tea. Holy basil combines well with other herbs, such as rose petal, lemon balm, lavender, ginger, nutmeg, and other spices. It can be brewed in milk and added to Golden Milk made with turmeric. If you don’t grow your own, numerous kinds of Tulsi teas are on the market so you can still enjoy a cozy mug. Tulsi Rose is my favorite way to wind down the day!

TULSI TEA

INGREDIENTS & DIRECTIONS:

• Add 1-2 teaspoons dried Tulsi or 4 teaspoons fresh (small handful) to a heat safe container.
• Boil 1 cup water and add to container, place lid on.
• Allow the tea to steep, covered, for 15-20 minutes.
• Strain Tulsi from tea and enjoy daily.

JAY'S FAVORITE TULSI TEA - In Winter & Summer
Mix equal parts of dried Tulsi, Peppermint, Nettles Hibiscus flower in a jar and label. Add (optional) honey once steeped 20 minutes and strained. To make, use 2 teaspoons per cup of just boiled water. A few paper thin slices of fresh Ginger root work well in this too. There's always room to sway with your preferences.  

USE FRESH LEAVES
Add chopped leaves to culinary dishes just as you would basil. Freeze leaves in ice cubes to add to summer drinks.  Eat a few fresh leaves to get phytonutrients and boost your immunity.  Make Tulsi Pesto!

TULSI/HOLY BASIL TINCTURE (ALCOHOL EXTRACT)
I prefer using fresh Tulsi in tea AND tincture. I do dry 1-2 pounds for our for our family to get through the time of year that when Tulsi isn't growing. We refuse to live without Tulsi in the apothecary these days.

I snip the aerial parts (flower tops and leaves), coarsely cut the plant up, and pack a jar full. Usually, with tinctures, we add 80-100 proof alcohol (40-50% alcohol), such as vodka, to cover all the plant. Place lid on jar, label and date, and shake daily for several days. Store out of direct sunlight. Wait the 6 weeks shaking every now and then, and then strain off the plant material through cheese cloth, squeezing out any liquid from the plant, compost it if possible. Store this Tulsi Tincture you just made (!) in brown glass and dose 30-60 drops per day. Consult and herbalist if you need more support figuring your dosing. 

I LOVE making with an apple-based brandy I get from France for tinctures also, especially with Tulsi. 

TULSI ELIXIR
My favorites for this elixir are good brandy + honey. Tulsi Elixir is spicy, fragrant and delicious! Yes it's becoming a regular apothecary item here. ElderMoon must make this for the community because our Tulsi is divine and we have bees to complete it well with honey from bees who visit the Tulsi bed all summer long until frost (smile). 

INGREDIENTS & DIRECTIONS:

• Select jar size (1-pint jar or smaller for your 1st batch is good)
• Fill with enough fresh chopped Tulsi flowers and leaves to fill the jar loosely.
• Add 80 proof vodka/brandy to fill the jar 3/4 
• Next add Glycerine or raw honey to fill the jar (local raw honey best).
• Cap, shake well, label, date. Let sit for 4-6 weeks, shaking regularly. 
• Strain the plant material out with cheese cloth and squeeze all the goodness out.
• Rebottle (in a pretty one too), label + date and you just made a delicious TULSI ELIXIR!

QUESTION? Can you make this with good quality dried Tulsi? YES, simple fill your jar 1/3-1/2 full with dried Tulsi and proceed. Your dried Tulsi should be aromatic meaning it smells like Tulsi. If not then seek better quality. Your nose knows.

TULSI INFUSED HONEY (is divine!)
I LOVE Tulsi infused honey to take by the spoonful, add to tea, eat on baked goods, or as a delicate hint of flavor added to fresh cut fruits or drizzled on a fresh sliced in half grapefruit as you scoop out the pulp! It's great drizzled on hot buttered baked goods too. 

INGREDIENTS & DIRECTIONS:

• Choose you wide mouthed jar (based on available fresh Tulsi)
• Add fresh Tulsi leaves and flowers gently chopped to loosely fill jar
• Add good honey to cover the Tulsi completely 
• Stirring with a chopstick to remove air bubbles until the jar is full.
• Cap securely and label. Stir a few times each week. I leave in a warm sunny window and shake when I see it each day.
• Wait at least 4-6 weeks. You can leave the leaves in to eat or gently warm the honey just to facilitate straining the plant material off through a fine mesh sieve.
• Rebottle label and that's it. You just made a Tulsi Infused Honey!

TULSI VINEGAR
Again, super easy and great! This can be turned into a Tulsi Oxymel too. 

• Loosely pack a wide mouth quart jar about three-quarters full with chopped Tulsi leaves and flowers,
• Cover nearly to the top with raw, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar.
• Cap it, shake gently, and allow to infuse for 3-4 weeks and shake a few times each week. If you use a metal lid, place wax paper between the lid and jar, as vinegar will corrode away the metal and ruin your product.
• Store in the darkness of a cabinet to ease oxidation. 
• ​Once it’s ready, strain out the plant material through cheese cloth and squeeze well. Rebottle and label and date. Good for 1 year. 

OTHER OPTIONS:
You can add honey, maple syrup, agave or molasses to make that syrupy-sweet yet tangy edge you like.  Herb infused vinegars make popular mocktail concoctions, shrubs, switchels and oxymels.  A sipping vinegar or shrub is basically a combination of vinegar, honey, and your chosen plant with mashed fruit. Herbalists prefer to use organic apple cider vinegar because alone it has so many health benefits already. The herb-vinegar-honey-fruit (shrub) or herb-vinegar-honey (oxymel) is used as a mixer to flavor water, sparkling water, club soda, or mixed into cocktails. A "switchel" is an older term used when making with cider vinegar that's sweetened with molasses or pure Maple or Birch syrup. Call it what you like. These are good tasting and hold the healing abilities of the plants chosen delivered to the body easily. 

Thank you for wandering through and I pray this gives that nudge to get mixing and pouring, tasting, and planning for more as you stock your apothecary well with simple green medicines. Enjoy, Jen

- Jim MacDonald, Herbalist says, “The best way I know to get Mullein to grow where you live is to burn a brush pile and come back in a year.”

Yes, Mullein is called a pioneer plant for this very reason. It has ease and a tenacious ability to begin to grow in disturbed, traumatized land as a regenerative force for starting the settling of healing energies while steadily moving forward into the healing process.

This is Mullein’s super power. It reorganizes limited resources for regeneration.

Even in our bodies as we sip leaf infusions for the lungs that are flooded with deadly fluid devastation, the gut that is devastated by a regular lousy diet of stress or poor quality food, or we drip Mullein flower oil into inflamed, infected ears as we consider what is not being heard.

Mullein blankets the land where fire has cleared forests. In this, it appears as though the plant is invading the land, but after a year or two, new plant species emerge and diversity expands. Mullein acts as a kind of soothing balm that eases and covers with its leaves the devastation and disruption and helps regenerate new growth.
​

​Medicinal Plant Part: Leaf, Flower

Medicinal Actions:
Demulcent, emollient, astringent, antimicrobial, antispasmodic, pectoralis, expectorant, and relaxant properties, which makes it beautifully helpful in pectoral/respiratory complaints and bleeding of the lungs and bowels. The whole plant seems to possess slightly sedative, mild narcotic properties.

Common Names:
White Mullein. Torches. Mullein Dock. Our Lady's Flannel. Velvet Dock. Blanket Herb. Velvet Plant. Woollen. Rag Paper. Candlewick Plant. 

Habitat, Description, Harvest:
Mullein is a widely distributed plant, being found all over Europe and in temperate Asia as far as the Himalayas, and in North America is exceedingly abundant as a naturalized weed in the eastern States. This plant is biennial and there are many species too. I stay with the ones that have a white mid vein and white hairs along the flower stalk. The leave can get huge, up to 2 feet long when happy, but the plant starts as a small and fuzzy rosette each spring that grows larger and larger the first year. The second year rosette emerges large and the flower stalk quickly rises from the center by late spring of the second year. Leaves are harvest through the summer of the first year to spring of the second. Flowers are harvest in the summer of the second and final year.

Herbalists seek these easily found abundant medicine plants for they provide through efficiency and potency for the relevant conditions of our times, and also provide teachings of the power of simplicity, abundance economics, and ease through their actions. 

Traditional Medicine Preparations:
For year I’ve harvested fresh Mullein leaf for tincture, dried Mullein leaves for infusions, teas and for smoke blends, freshly wilted flowers (leave out on a towel for a day so some of the water evaporates off) for Mullein Flower Infused Olive Oil. 

Harvest & Drying:
Enjoy harvesting healthy, green fuzzy Mullein leaves mid summer to fall on first or second year plants. I take from many plants so I don’t harm any one plant from taking too many. Carefully examine each leaf to check for mold or decay on the leaf undersides as these should not be harvested for medicine making. ​
​
My favorite way to prep Mullein for drying is to stack the leave up and slice thin with a good sharp knife. Then load on trays or in a dehydrator. They dry quick too but be sure that center rib, which has a lot of medicine in it, is dry. Roll it between your fingers and it needs to crumble. If it stays intact and rolls around your finger, then it needs another day or two. Store in glass if possible in a cool dark place, label with date. 

​The hairs are prominent so have a good straining method before ingesting to prevent irritation in the throat.

Mullein is found in many formulas addressing the lungs for any respiratory ailments from coughs due to colds and flus to management of asthma.

​Less often noted but just as potent are the GI Tract benefits of toning and supporting digestion while soothing irritation to mucous lining. Taken as infusion, homemade syrup, or tincture, many feel the expansion of the entire chest cavity and a lengthening of the spine as breathing muscles of the diaphragm and between the ribs are relaxed so they can work more efficiently in a regular healing breath rhythm that improves air flow, oxygenation, and expectoration of excessive mucous and/or infection lodged and festering in our lung tissue. Coughing is good. But we want efficient deep coughs to clear the lungs well. The calming and expansiveness of these actions is specific for easing the spasms associated with asthma. Mullein is safe for long term dosing for such chronic conditions as this. Recover from irritated and inflamed GI tract conditions is hastened in the presence of the demulcent and astringent properties of Mullein that encourage toned well-functioning mucosa to get back on tract.

These delicate yet potent flowers are harvested for making oil for the ears for impacted ear wax mobilization and for inflammation and infection, though I tend to combine with garlic to enhance the antiseptic properties. I suggest just Mullein flower oil for impacted ear wax, any visible lesions, or abscesses in the ear canal. Please drop NOTHING in the ear canal if the ear drum is ruptured, draining mucous with a bit of blood, and already in a healing process. Before rupture, the pain is of course excruciating, but is relieved instantly with the pressure release of rupturing. The ear drum is designed to do this, and quickly, and needs no help other than keeping the outer ear clean and dry with warm soapy cloth as it drains. I encourage the person to lay affected ear down and allow the ear to naturally drain with the help of gravity onto a towel. It looks much like blowing your nose through your ear with a little blood show. Nasty, yes… but so good it’s draining away and they have found comfort from the pain! You will do more harm than good putting anything into the ear at this time. Treat the immune system internally instead, along with rest, ample hydration, and simple nourishing soups.

It is easy to find traveling otoscopes (to look inside the ear canal) for less than 15$ today and it’s a great simple tool for the practice of visualizing the ear canal when healthy and sick. It’s the only way to truly learn what an infection looks like. We must know the tissue when well for comparison so I encourage regular peeks inside the ear canal to learn. It's not hard and one can get quite good at it quickly with a little practice. Inner ear infections versus outer ear infections of the canal are easily discerned as well, though treatment is the same with localized instilling of an oil, pain management, and immune support with herbs, rest hydration and simple nourishing soups. 

Pain is managed best with nervine herbs such as Chamomile, Skullcap, or Valerian root (there are others too), and hot salt packs I learned years ago from Rosemary Gladstar.

HOT SALT PACK RECIPE: Simply warm 2 cups of dry salt in a dry pan until warm to the wrist, but not too hot to touch. Pour into a bowl lined with a clean hand towel, gather up the corners and tie closed and place over the infected painful ear. Sometimes I add a few drops of Eucalyptus or Lavender essential oil. Lay over the infected ear and neck area and rest. This stops pain almost instantly and is so soothing while waiting for other therapies to start kicking in. It increases circulation to the area and speeds drainage of the infection through opening the Eustachian tubes and sinuses. So simple and works great. 

"The flower stalk oozes a brown protective, self-healing resin for the plant that was once used in baking like Vanilla is today for it has a faint vanilla aroma and has also a great history in fermentation of stouts and liqueurs.  

Rotenone is a fish poison and very effective insecticide originally of plant origin but now synthetically produced by our government.  It occurs in mullein seeds and seed capsules, and leaves. Mullein seeds and seed capsules have been used as fish poison in the past.  Mullein seeds and flowering stalks were also used to get rid of lice and scabies. Rotenone is water insoluble, but readily soluble in ethanol, acetone, and other organic solvents such as olive oil. Fatal rotenone poisoning causes respiratory failure, ironic, huh?  Mild rotenone poisoning from inhaled mullein smoke may be spasmolytic (reduces spasms) for asthmatics and chronic bronchitis. It may suppress the cough reflex, and, act as a local anodyne (pain killer) for inflamed ear canals. Rotenone is more toxic when inhaled than when ingested. Once again, the poisonous substances of plants in low doses produce some of our strongest medicines." – Thank you to Ryan Drum.

My first year in herbal school I received visions from Mullein as the tall flower stalk superimposed as the spine within our human form. Mullein had me see and feel this in my body so I could truly know this expansion and lengthening as my cells, tissues, and bones as they made more space within my body for movement both physical and energetic. Grief work, which was in my lap back then, I learned would be a healer and teacher who would be present all through life, not just for me, but we all have this work in our lap. While I sat with these gentle giants, I learned how Mullein deeply assists us with re-patterning our stance in the presence of the grief we attempt to carry. It allows the protective heart posture of collapsing our shoulders forward with a rounded back as we pull our heart away from the world to open, to expand. Mullein supports movement, flow, and the release of the tears behind the rage, which is often one of the many masks of grief, as we re-learn a new posture, a new stance, in the presence of our grief as teacher. Solidified and held grief makes us sick. It must move. Mullein is often communal in how it grows and this mirrors the medicine of grief that also needs community. We are learning still. 

Asthma, respiratory, ear and GI tract lessons have all been learned on the job as a mom of three sons who each gave me the lessons I needed on how to assess and treat such conditions as I nudged their bodies back to health. And yes, our children carry their own grief too, sometimes lineage, personal, or collectively rooted. Mullein has always been in my home apothecary since my very first creation of an apothecary. It’s easily found in herb and health food stores for reasonable prices due to abundance and ease of harvest, or found when away from home in wild places where newly disturbed soil encourages the seeds to germinate as one of the first plants to do so in such places. Each mother plant in seed makes thousands of tiny black round seed on the huge stalks that can get up to 10 feet tall. If you find yourself on new land without Mullein there are two ways I love to entice Mullein closer. One is to call to Mullein deep within. Make an offering too. It will always come to those who wait and our work is to remain poised and ready to receive. Many are surprised at how Mullein shows up too. The other way is to find stalks in seed and carefully transport to your land in some creative way. Then wave and whack these as massive wands over areas you think Mullein will love, partly to full sun is preferred. I sing softly and speak praise to this beauty too. I imagine I’m quite a sight and it makes for great conversation from non-gardening or non-herbalist neighbor folk!  
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Thank you for wandering through here. Much love, Jen



(Article Updated 12/2024)

Self-observation and self-reflection are definitely forms of self care that I'm finding absolutely require we keep our humor about us. For one, it's not as painful as the self-judgments we toss around so easily. I often laugh more these days as I catch myself in any form of sabotage mode. Then I adopt a third person conversation which delivers quite the therapeutic effects of kind self-talk, even if stern, that has that element of humor. "Oh, look what you're doing now, Jen!", is my chat with a curious and inquisitive laugh. With Valentine's Day here and all the social media and commercialization that surfaces, it's easy to get lost or lulled to sleep in the lousy chocolate, mass produced over priced roses that die in days, moving blood diamonds around more, and yeah, some seriously bad cards with ridiculous prices. I walked away years ago from this. Sorry but it's true. Now visiting flowers and trees wherever they're alive, visiting sacred waters of the Earth and other landscapes that heal us, making handmade gifts, and sourcing cacao from kind stewards of the land, plus other ways that really feel true, well that's another story all together (smile).

The truth is this time of year is triggering for many. Many struggle this month around the heart. What's heavy in the heart for you? Are tears trying to move in that self-cleansing way? Is there a struggle to find the space or language to actually feel into it all and therapeutically convey in some creative way what is happening on the inside? Addictions of all sorts are included in a mass of coping skills we've masterfully honed over the years as avoidance tactics and they rear their head often this time of year in place of embracing dropping deeper into the heart to do some dusting and cleaning. Growth hurts. But the truth is holding on takes far more energy than letting go of heart pain. 

As spring walks closer and stirs our subtler bodies, I know for me I feel this as either as a scattered way or a sluggish can't get focused way. Obsessive behaviors, irritation, anxiety, and poor timing crop up among my people too. Complaining and whining are at an all time high. So how do you clock this unique way in yourself and own that there's some simple good medicine for this? The number one medicine for this for me is to get outside, anyway, no matter what the weather is doing to re-calibrate with the natural forces. Bundling up for us cold weather dwellers means pulling out the hardy weather garb, again, but let's face it, 40 degrees feels like spring after this much winter and most of us don a thick sweater instead!

"Go to the Water" is the mantra of my ancestors and I seek this inside and out with hikes to natural water places and also through more spiritual bathing in the tub, and sauna. I also sit with my drum and rattle more, journey and make sounds that carry what I cannot find words for. And I paint for visual release and inquiry. Of late I've turn to our food choices too for my body is giving subtle clues to lighten it up. Salads, raw foods, and fruit look more appealing now. Here's another way that I like to re-calibrate on the inside. Jay and I are starting a Kitchari Cleanse this week, Cyrus is not so game for this yet but he's watching as we prepare for a short 3-4 day one to start. We'll go longer if we want to at the end. 

This simple, soupy Ayurvedic cleansing dish is made primarily of rice, split mung beans, seasonal veggies and spices. Sometimes I have to start at the physical and walk step by step. This satisfies that in me. It changed my whole outlook on cleansing and transformed my relationship with food and my body. Instead of feeling deprived, it made me feel nourished. Instead of frazzled and delirious with a headache or nausea, I felt grounded, safe, and secure. Coming off it I feel clear and connected. The idea is to stimulate your natural cleansing processes in a slow, sub-radar like cleanse that doesn't stimulate chelation toxicity (releasing too much too fast for our elimination systems). This is hard for the body and a stress that is not good for us. Seasoned fasting lovers know that this is a muscle that must be exercised slowly or one pays dearly. 

The beauty of this dish and cleanse is that you can eat. You can eat Kitchari for a single meal to give your digestion a break or do a full cleanse of 3-7 days where you really begin to release stored toxins and accumulation for safe release from the body. It’s a great introductory or seasonal cleanse because you still get to eat something throughout the day but at the same time it's the most effective tool I've found for healing and soothing the digestive system, increasing digestive fire, reducing bloating, clearing the mind, healing attachments to food, sleeping deeper, and kick starting the body’s natural ability to heal itself. While weight lose is not the goal, that just might happen too.

I follow this cleansing diet for days before the plant diet initiations I go to with my teacher where we sustain ourselves on a few ounces of a single plant elixir every four hours for three days and vision quest with one plant. Eating kitchari from one pot prepared each morning reduces our focus and energy demands on food. Think about how much time we spend on food alone from making the money to getting it or growing it, to planning meals, preparing, eating, and cleaning up. It's all good and communal supporting, yes, but a break to focus elsewhere is also so good for us. This eliminates much and frees up so much time. This is also a great diet for a day or two upon returning from questing or fasting of any kind to support integration and landing back in well.  

Determine the number of days you will cleanse for with 3-7 days being a good place to start. You can always go longer if you feel you want to. Trust yourself on this. 

• Begin to eliminate common foods that cause imbalances for you a few days before the cleanse such as alcohol, caffeine, refined sugar, meat, processed foods, and foods you know affect your unique physiology. 
• Make kitchari daily (if possible) and eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Seek organic ingredients and stock up. 
• Drink warm water and warm herbal teas of nettles, red clover flower, oatstraw, milky oats, chamomile (deeply calming and clearing), or peppermint (gives a 'pep').
• Get plenty of rest and take time for self care (warm oil massage at the start or end of the day, warm baths, steams, saunas, yoga, meditation)
• In the mornings drink a cup of warm water with lemon followed by another glass of warm water to flush the system
• If you need to eat something other than kitchari try some fresh, seasonal fruit in the morning, handfuls of nuts and seeds, or cooked grains with ghee and a sprinkle of sea or rock salt
• Set an intention. Remind yourself of why you're doing this re-calibration cleanse and dig in for your higher purpose for this. For me, I like to set an intention to heal and connect to my deepest self. Often I observe myself swaying away from self and this whole practice reels me back in. Setting an intention brings the practice from the ordinary to the sacred.
• Clear out your calendar as much as you can and involve willing family  or friends either to share with you or at least inform them of what you're doing. Let this be a time for total self-love, reflection, and connection. Having someone to share this time adds a depth to the process but is not a prerequisite by any means. It's amazing how much time and energy we have when we don’t need to think about food and preparing it! Use that time to connect to spirit, your Divine, and the deepest part of you.

​

I love adding the ghee and salt later in the process because it makes the flavor jump up more for me. I do this with simple tomato sauce too by infusing olive oil with garlic, basil, salt and pepper, and pinch of rosemary and stir in just before serving. It's amazing how these late additions retain and pull forth the essential oils in the dish. 

This makes about 4-6 servings. Double it if there's more people in your home joining you or to eat throughout the week, though I do recommend making it daily if that's a possibility for you. To accommodate my work schedule I I make enough for 2 days at a time. 

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup split mung beans - these can be found at most natural food stores or online. You can use whole mung beans but I soak them over night, or at least for a few hours, in cool water with a little whey or buttermilk if you have. Discard that water in the morning and proceed.  
• 1/2 cup organic basmati rice
• 1 3x2 inch strip of kombu (kelp), cut into small pieces
• 6-8 cups of filtered water
• 3-4 cups fresh, organic and seasonal veggies - use at least one green veggie and one orange or root vegetable such as carrot, sweet potato or squash
• 1 teaspoon fennel seed ground 
• 1 teaspoon coriander seed ground
• 1 teaspoon cumin seed ground
• 1/8 - 1/4  teaspoon asafoetida powder
• 1/2  - 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh ginger root
• 1/4 - 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup loosely packed chopped, fresh organic cilantro and reserve some for serving
• 2-3 tablespoons ghee, coconut oil, or sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon rock salt and more to taste if needed at serving time
• fresh lime wedges for serving

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Rinse the rice and split mung beans in the 2:1 ratio of rice to beans and then put them in a pot with the kombu and water enough to cover by at least an inch or 2.
2. Boil until soft 20-30 minutes roughly with the lid ajar. Chop veggies and cilantro and grind spices in a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder dedicated to herbs (if using whole spices) as the rice and beans cook.
3. Add the veggies (keep kale or quick-cooking veggies like zucchini out for now), add 2 more cups of water and cover. Cook 3-5 minutes or so until the water boils veggies are starting to soften. Add more water and adjust temperature as needed.
4. Once veggies start to soften, add the diced ginger, coconut and spices of cumin, coriander, fennel, asafoetida and turmeric. Sometimes I add a sprinkle of black pepper in the Winter.
5. Add the kale, spinach or other quick-cooking veggies and the fresh cilantro. Stir adding more water if needed.
6. Then I turn off the heat and add the ghee, coconut oil or sesame oil, and the rock salt.
7. Serve with fresh cilantro and coconut garnish and a thick wedge of fresh lime. 

Enjoy! Thank you for coming in for a read and may your day be blessed and your re-calibration plans be underway as Spring approaches.
Much Love, Jen

Are you ready to gently infuse your heathcare with simple green plants for healing? It truly is easier than many think because we hold this knowing through our ancestral lines. Beginning anyway is a beautiful way. xo-Jen

 Ritual water treatments and limpias have unbroken links to ancestral health care practices in many places in the world today. Near lost here in the states with a fascination for ultra-pasteurized ways, thankfully there is a resurrection and a carrying forth in practice among us as we remember and put it all into practice again. We'll begin with the bath.

​With this practice of the ritual bath, we are creating beauty and restoration space for gathering up our soul and spirit pieces that can hide from a hard day or experience. These parts of us know these practices as safe and healing and respond quickly to the healing forces we enlist on behalf of supporting wholeness. Spiritual bathing and the ritual bath are meant to cleanse and protect us spiritually as well as within the other subtle and more physical levels. To create the desired effects, there are a few things to consider. When taking a spiritual, ritual bath, you don’t use soaps, shampoos, or do any leg shaving and such. Once the bath is prepared, you are entering a sacred healing experience and space so you’ll want to really think about separating your regular bathing with your spiritual bathing.

When we immerse ourselves in a spiritual, ritual bath, we engage an initiation process to open ourselves up to spirit, or that which we refer to as our Divine.

Ritual bathing implies that water and prayer wash away any spiritual grime — cleansing, clearing, and purifying our body and energetic field. It suggests that we are willing to listen to our higher self and begin to trust something outside of our rational mind and allow the wise inner knowing to emerge. There's an affirmation within the act of planning and preparing that speaks of our openness to ask the universe to assist and transform what we believe needs to be shifted within.
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Although spiritual baths can sometimes help alleviate certain physical ailments, especially skin conditions and muscle soreness, they are meant for spiritual healing through release and restore processes. This ultimately affects our physical healing.

If you have open wounds or have just had surgery, do not immerse the wounded area in the water for several days and if you choose to anyway, which is fine for surface wounds, it's wise to sprinkle a few cups of strong herbal infusions and a handful of epsom salt only.

​Consider Calendula flowers, Lavender flowers, White pine, Juniper, Oak leaf and bark, Witch Hazel Bark, Rosemary, Roses, Plantain leaf, or Yarrow leaf and flower as infusion choices for skin care to encourage closing wounds. Sea salt will sting any open skin areas with no harm other than it stings. Epsom salts does not. This with speed physical healing and gather the soul and spirit back after such a traumatic event. I suggest a spiritual foot or hand bath for the in-between situations where a full immersion bath must wait or you don't have a bath tub. 

A limpia is a spiritual cleansing that is based in the philosophy and practice of many if not all traditional healing practices of indigenous intact, and lost, cultures of humanity. We all have memory within our bones given through our ancestry of each every bloodline to know these practices and feel deeply drawn to them even in some inexplicable but comforting way. 

To perform a limpia, the curandera or shamanic practitioner uses herbs, flowers, prayers and songs, and the sacred sound of drum or rattle to help purify a person's mind, body and spirit.

Traditional healers work from a place of knowing that physical illnesses or 'conditions' are 99% rooted in the spiritual body. Fresh plant material is chosen and bundled together and swept over the body gently, and sometimes with a little more than gentle shaking and tapping (to whacking pretty good if needed) on the surface of the body from head to toe and front and back of the body. The herbs are regularly smudged through the process and prayers are softly spoken through the wafting, aromatic smudge smoke. Once completed, the energies are tapped into the Earth for composting and the spent herbs which can look quite black and dingy at times, are buried in a ceremonially reverent way.

My teacher Rocio, a born and betrothed shamanic healer from Ecuador, has traveled extensively teaching the power of daily limpias as part of one’s care for their body, mind, soul, and spirit. For times when the gardens sleep, there are the aromatic pines and fresh culinary plants which carry profound support for daily limpias. Rosemary and Thyme are favorites of mine.

Daily limpias are considered part of self care in many cultures and it's common to see limpia plants available in markets in other countries who retain this honoring of spiritual healing through profound, simple and sometimes daily practices.

​Another essential element of the limpia is the smoke of copal, palo santo, white sage, or other plant you consider deeply clearing and protective for this kind of work. Copal is a dried resinous tree sap, palo santo is an aromatic wood that is burned in many different Central and South American ceremonies, and white sage grows here in the states. Do consider tiny amounts for smudge as each of these plants are experiencing threatened existence due to over harvesting. A little goes a long way. 

So it's winter. How do we enjoy a plant limpia in winter? We can. There's always a way. So you have two components here: a bundle of fresh plants, and a bowl of infused water.

The Water:
We could Sun or Moon infuse fresh aromatics or any dried plant material that calls to us and place them in a beautiful bowl set in a window for as long as feels complete. With dried herbs, these can be slowly simmered for 10 minutes and stirred with spoken prayers before placing in the sun or moon light for cooling and infusing. Crystals, flower essences, essential oils, or drops of plant tincture can be added to the water. Do a little bit of research on crystals as there are some that are best left next to the bowl of water for infusing.  Follow your intuitive knowing. My midwife gathered tiny bottles of ocean water from different places around the world. She added 1/4 of the bottle with vodka to preserve it, labeled them and had they lined up near here bathtub to as add to a ritual bath or certainly here for making your waters for a limpia. For the record, one can just do a limpia without the water as well. So you decide what's needed. 

The Limpia:
Make a fresh plant wand for the limpia. It's simple. Bundle a handful of fresh plant material together, such as fresh soft needled pines, flowers that call, and aromatics such as any fresh spices or mint trimmings that you're growing or have purchased at a store. It's pretty easy to get organic Rosemary , mints, Oregano, Thyme and more these day. I also love parsley for my Yemaya ritual to honor the Ocean.   

​Then simply work out your logistics of bringing your infused water and plant bundle with you. You can decide to have infused water as part of this or just sweep the fresh bundle through your smudge smoke or essential oil mist and work the fresh plant material over your body. Bring your fresh plant medicine bundle and bowl of infused water to:

• stand in your tub or shower.
• stand on a towel in any room you feel safe.
• do outside anyway (yes even in winter many do this!) and return to dry by the wood stove. You can just work with the smudge and fresh plant bundle without the water for this. You decide. 
• into a sauna. Lovely! 
• bring your bundle to the waters of Nature and stand in the water, dip your bundle in with you and begin. 

Remember, we are creating beauty and restoration space for gathering up our soul and spirit pieces that can hide from a hard day or experience. These parts of us know these practices as safe and healing and respond quickly to the healing forces we enlist on behalf of supporting wholeness. 

If you've not experienced such things as this that may seem strange, know this practice is ancient and the knowing and memory of administering and receiving of such medicine is within each of us. Many are comforted and take to it quite easily. The aromatic plants release their oils for immediate relief and healing as they waft directly through our sinuses to assist the nervous system that is often atrophied or ramped-up and on edge. When participants studying the medicine plants come to class with me, we do this together each morning. Should intensity arise during sharing we may all move to the Mugwort patch and do another limpia on ourselves or pair up and help each other. There are many giggles among those new to this old medicine way but all take to this quickly and feel shifted near instantly. The plants can do this for us when we arrive in their presence open and receptive. I find my Plant Limpias alone or with Sacred Bathing take my self care just a little bit deeper than a smudge sometimes because sometimes life is that intense and demands a bit more from us to stay well. 

This is an excerpt from a lesson in "Birthing an Herbalist in 13 Moons" online herbal course. I hope you found this informative and helpful and do send along questions if you need clarification. The rules are rather simple. Follow your intuitive connection with the plants, trust and enjoy. Thank you for coming into my world for a bit today. Much Love, Jen

Thank you for visiting and may your journey be safe and we meet soon. Use Coupon Code: plantjourney10 for a 10% discount off you tuition for 'Birthing an Herbalist in 13 Moons" on-line course AND  "Walking the Herbal Path The Earth Medicine Way' live course that begins each year in May. xo-Jen

The ElderMoon Apothecary is slowly and steadily growing like a little carefully tended sapling here. Thank you for supporting creative small business herbalists you love and are drawn to. We are always around, out in the light, in the country and in the city (or hospital like me!), and off the beaten path where we're most comfortable and often sitting with our beloved plants.    

With millions of articles and books on how to tincture and all the different nuances of this form of medicine making, I completely overlooked actually adding my two cents to this well covered topic. Seems fitting to have a post and an herbal council this month dedicated to keeping this kind of medicine making in the home apothecaries I so want to see all of you have at your fingertips. Thank you for venturing in for a bit to take in some medicine tending.

So, the oldest and best way in my experience to make medicine from plants is to add them to water. Yup. So gorgeously simple! And you already know some or all of this I bet. These would be called teas (steep 5-10 minutes), infusions (steeped 1-8 hours), and decoctions (simmered 20 minutes or more). Cooking the plants in water is my first and favorite way of medicine making and links me up to my ancestral path for we all have a great auntie or grandparent who knew the plants for medicine and were most likely a well known healer in their time. The smell and taste takes me there. 

There are times, however, when a later form of medicine, called a tincture, or plant extract, really shines. These are concentrated plants extracts taken by the drop using a menstruum (vinegar, glycerin, or alcohol) to extract the medicine and sometimes some of the nutrients too, depending on the menstruum chosen. Here's why tincture making skills jumped into the healer's medicine bag as we traveled through time:

1- Longevity and Stability:
An herb, once tinctured, will retain its medicinal qualities far longer than in most other preparations. Alcohol tinctures will last for many years. I do make smaller batches and use them up, and make new. Plus they're heavy to move and we moved twice with a ridiculous number of jars! I suggest making small batches for home apothecary tending. This way you can increase your variety of plants at your finger tips.

2- Easy to Administer and Travel With:
Once prepared in tincture form, the herb is ready to administer with no further preparation. The tinctures are dispensed directly under the tongue or mixed with warm water, tea, or juice and can be tucked into travel bags easy. Just be sure you know the rules for flying with liquids or they'll confiscate your precious medicines.

3- Ease of Preparation:
Anyone is capable of making high quality tinctures. All one needs is good quality herbs, a high quality solvent or menstruum (your solvents are alcohol, vinegar, or glycerin), a measuring cup, jar, labels, a dark place to store them, and a little time with lots of love for the process. You're making medicine. It's truly amazing when you step back and look at it all.

4- Storage:
Easy if you contain your excitement and make small batches! Tinctures store compactly and conveniently in a small space, always ready to use. They're excellent for first aid kits too.

5- Cost Effective:
Tinctures are becoming extremely expensive to purchase today making it prohibitive for people to afford their medicine. This is “the people's medicine" – our original medicine and is a birthright to have access to it. So I teach how. Period. It's not hard and so much better to make yourself if you can. What you're paying for is more about the person’s time to make it for you. If this may be what you need, I make for people too. But know you can do it too anytime you want to.

6- Personalized Formulas:
As you learn to work with various herbs, you'll develop favorite ones that just call to you. Your needs will change over time and making your own gives you the creative freedom to design tincture combinations and formulas from your home apothecary.

7- Selecting the Herbs:
Almost all herbs tincture well with the correct solvent. Herbs can be tinctured as a ready-made formula or tinctured as single herbs and combined later into formulas. Most herbalists prefer to tincture herbs as single extracts. This gives them greater control of the water/alcohol ratio for individual herbs and their constituents. It also allows greater flexibility and creativity when crafting formulas. I do make formulas this way professionally but for my family I make smaller jars of the herbs mixed together fresh and they tincture all together. It’s easier and keeps me humbly rooted in tending to my loved ones. I love, love, love the way they turn out. You get to decide what works for you.

8- Selecting the Menstruum:
The menstruum is the solvent used to extract the biochemical constituents (yes, fancy lingo for the medicine and nutrients) of the plant, and to preserve the resulting solution. There are basically three menstruums used in tincture preparations: alcohol, vinegar, and glycerin. Like anything, there are pros and cons to each (more below on this); and like anything, everyone has their personal favorite and considers it the best. There are some intricate things to consider for each. Alcohol sensitivity (means vinegar and glycerin options only), after the nutritional properties (these extract better in vinegar and glycerin), when to utilize heat for better extraction (I warm glycerites), longest shelf life and extraction stronger compounds without heat (alcohol shines here), and dosing considerations (I increase doses with vinegar and glycerin tinctures).  

(Here's a little excerpt from "Birthing an Herbalist in 13 Moons" at ElderMoon School of Herbs on-line herbalist training journey with the medicine plants.)

The following is a list of the solvents (mentsruums) commonly utilized in making herbal tinctures and some guidelines for what plant constituents they most effectively dissolve:


1. ALCOHOL
Alcohol has both prolonged keeping power and serves as a powerful solvent or extractor. It has the ability to break down, absorb, and preserve much of the plant material. There are many varieties of alcohol used, though every herbalist has their favorite: brandy, rum, vodka, gin, Everclear, and 190 proof grain or potato. Alcohol that has a natural water constituent (such as those listed above) is called 'Aqueous Ethanol' and generally has a water to alcohol ratio of 40-95% alcohol. Aqueous Ethanol dissolves: alkaloids (limited), organic salts, organic acids, most glucosides, sugars, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, tannins, bitter compounds. Absolute Alcohol, or Pure Grain Alcohol, is more effective for dissolving resinous and waxy material. It is used to dissolve: wax, resin, fat, balsam, oleoresin, glycosides, some alkaloids, sugars, vitamins, volatile oils.
Easy Starting Point: Begin tincturing with 100 proof potato vodka. (50% alcohol and 50% water). 

2. GLYCERIN
Glycerine is a chemical constituent of all the fatty oils from both animals and vegetables. An excellent nutritive solvent, glycerin does not have quite the versatility of either water or alcohol, but its advantages are that it tastes good because it’s sweet, is safe and effective for children, and is in and of itself very nourishing and soothing. It dissolves: sugars, enzymes (dilute), glucosides, bitter compounds, saponins (dilute), tannins, minerals, vitamins. Glycerine also has excellent preservative qualities. It’s great for children’s preparations and for those refraining from alcohol where the use of alcohol in tinctures would be prohibitive. Be sure to request Vegetable Glycerin when buying; it is of a much higher quality. Vegetable Glycerin is available at many natural food stores and herb stores. These tinctures require a period of warming and a slight dilution with water in making them.  Quick note for the curious: we dilute 4:1 with distilled (mineral hungry) water, chop herbs small using the same proportions given above, and warm the closed jar in a water bath for a few days at the start and again at the finish (we use a crock pot on lowest setting) with a total of 6-8 weeks of sitting and shaking occasionally. These are also light sensitive so tend well to preserve the medicine. 


3. VINEGAR
I used to teach a FOUR hour class on vinegar and herbs! Water is the first and made by the Divine which is why it's the best solvent to start with as a budding herbalist. Vinegar, especially apple cider vinegar, is one of the oldest solvents used. However, it's not highly regarded today by many herbalists or medicine making companies and is considered secondary to alcohol as a solvent due to the greater strength of and shelf life of alcohol. Though not as strong as alcohol, it has other definite advantages and should not be ignored. Apple Cider Vinegar contains minute quantities of trace minerals our bodies crave and has a mild acidity that balances and aids digestion. The acetic acid and potassium content help to activate the friendly bacteria in the digestive track. I highly recommend Vinegar as a solvent for tonifying/nutritious herbs and for preparations that are taken over a long period of time for health maintenance, such as in high vitamin mineral formulas and tonic formulas. Vinegar is an excellent solvent for children’s formulas and for alcohol sensitive folks too. Vinegar tinctures are excellent for extracting some plant alkaloids (such as lobeline from Lobelia), but are not as good for extracting the more acidic biochemical ingredients and so doses are usually doubled as a general rule for making sure one gets the proper amount of the more medicinal compounds.

A commonly taught thing about Vinegar Tinctures is that they “will not last very long”. Most say 6 months. I disagree and have not had one spoil yet and many herbalists I know agree. What I teach is make enough to get to the next harvest (plus a little extra is my practice). When a vinegar tincture goes bad (and you WILL know) it's usually the quality of the vinegar and it will smell sour and have fermentation bubbles forming around the edges. Non-pasteurized live vinegar will sometimes form a mother and this is fine. It means it's alive, not spoiled, and you just have to remove “the mother” at the surface – which can be used to make more vinegar. Using the rule of one season to the next keeps your stock moving and freshness then remains at the top of your practice too. 

This month we are deepening our tincturing skills at ElderMoon School in our Monthly Herbal Councils. We'll cover weight-to-volume tincturing as another step beyond this traditional way. While the traditional folk way is absolutely enough, some want to deepen their practice with medicine making. We'll cover the climate within the herbal circles as they attempt to justify and legitimize their existence by standardizing. There is a place for this as herbalism evolves. In the end we all usually come back around to water based preparations made from plants we tended and stored in our own apothecary (smile) but it's so good to travel the road anyway and come back to that and be in community too all along the way, eh? We'll speak to all of this in council. 

​Do check out the recorded and archived herbal councils each month (BTW free if you're already a student in other courses here at ElderMoon School). It's so worth the low commitment simple hour a month to plug in and enjoy 'talking plant' in community.  Much Love, Jen

Could it be the blinding light of this high solar time of summer, or the winter shadow time of our opposite season that makes it hard to see? One can easily say it has nothing to do with it at all, but for decades now I see in my people that I'm called to tend to infected eyes the most at these polar opposite times of the year. Thinking in metaphors is an option but it does help the minds of healers who work close to the earth and what ails us among the living. There's less memorizing when thinking in cycles and metaphors. Recall is a process you can 'feel into', instead of it being a 'doing' action. And for me, my recall is so much sharper this way. The need for books or running to google falls away. This steamy beautiful summer brings eye ailments forward and I've been spurred to write on the heels of the surging eye infections common during summertime which also prompt us to prepare for winter too.

While there are so many plants we can lean on here for infected eyes and affected vision on many levels, I speak to two that have not failed me in over two decades for getting right down into the physical of it all, such as with conjunctivitis (the catch-all term for you got something even though we don't know what it is') or pink eye of sorts. There is an easy bit of planning that happens now so one is prepared at all times. Depending on where you live, there may be other plants that fill the actions these two provide and I do encourage you to work with what grows close to you. Learn the technique here. 

​These two plants are abundantly present this time of year. Calendula (C. officinalis) basks in full sun. Chickweed (Stellaria media) likes the sun but prefers cooler weather and so travels under larger plants where the medicine can be made within the leaves and flowers but it's in the more shadowy places of the garden. Light and shadow working together to make the medicine needed, catch me here? I like to make a succus you can drip straight into the eyes. But what is a succus? 

succus suc·cus (sŭk'əs) 
n. pl. suc·ci (sŭk'ī, -sī) 
A fluid, such as gastric juice (ignore this part of the definition) or vegetable/plant juice (we're going for this one), contained in or secreted by living tissue. Yes, an old term not in technical use much anymore, though herbalists from time to time will toss the term on the table to honor the old ways we are discovering to be quite relevant today. 

Yes, good for any weepy eye infections, conjunctivitis, styes, or irritated redness. We often hear 'yes, good for eyes infections' but many need the walk from the garden to the actual drops in the eyes. Below are pics to walk you through how to actually make this succus. A beautiful side note, make larger amounts for oral infections and gum disease and swish twice a day for great results too.

- A small handful of fresh Chickweed leaf and flower and a few Calendula flowers makes about one ounce of succus, which could treat a small neighborhood! You only need 1-3 drops in each eye 2-3x/day or every 4 hours for intense situations. One can treat less frequently, such as morning and night, as things begin to shift well.
- This is good for 1 week in the refrigerator. Then make fresh again, but rarely is a second batch ever needed.
- Always treat both eyes even if only one looks like it's ailing. Chances are, being so close together, they will both get 'it'.
- Cleanliness matters and is actually imperative so the one who is treating doesn't get infected. Hand wash before and after with a good castile soap. It's that easy.
- The eyes are not a sterile environment. It is one reason why we make tears loaded with enzymes to keep them clean and flushed frequently. They are also not a place the immune system can get too easily which is why these infections can be persistent. Our eye ball is in a bony socket. Our tears wash this cave-like socket to keep it lubricated, wash dust and debris out, kill potential invaders, and of course cleanse the heart and soul.
- Children usually hate this. Adults often do too. I treat my eyes in front of the child if toddler age and up, even have them help, so they can see what it's like. Lay flat and place a few drops at the inner corner of the closed eye. It pools perfectly there (called the inner canthus of the eye). Now simply take a deep breath and blink several times to allow it to wash into the eye. This is the easiest way always. Have tissue ready for tearing will be stimulated. This is a good wash out with medicine present. There can be initial stinging but only with some people who once acclimated to the process find it is quite minimal. Give the eyes a rest by remaining flat for a bit and warm compresses of Chamomile tea help immensely.
 - Nasty pink eye infections can be gone in 24-48 hours with the infection pooling and crusting at the corners of the eyes. Simply wipe with a most paper towel, tissue or gauze. Wipe from the center outward, one swipe along the eye, and throw paper away. Repeat as needed with clean gauze each time if needed. Do keep treating for several more days after symptoms are gone. Meticulous hand washing helps halt the spread so be diligent. 
-Yes, at first it stings a tiny bit. Anything in the eye will do this a little at first but within less than a minute it eases. 
-Think immune support for a few days to a week. Include herbs, a light nutritious diet, plenty of water, and more rest than you think. 

Ah yes, this is also easy and I take apothecary tending quite serious because it can be frustrating to have a loved one in distress and you have the skills but no supplies. We avoid this by thinking ahead and seeing each condition that comes along as a teaching moment for how to prepare. During the summer, harvest for winter by placing fresh Chickweed (Stellaria media) and Calendula (C. officinalis) flowers in a freezer container, enough for 2-3 batches or more if you have a large household or are treating through a clinic setting.

Other Options Exist: If you forget, no worries. Make a strong Chamomile (Matricaria chamomilla) infusion with 10 drops fresh Calendula tincture added to each 1 ounce batch will do the trick well too. I've also added 3 drops of Goldenseal root tincture (Hydratis canadensis) to this for particularly persistent infection. The berberine content of Goldenseal works well for resistant bacterial strains. And no, the alcohol in this 10-13 drops added to one ounce (30ml) of Chamomile tea is so small that it does not hurt the eye. These herbs actually reduce pain. 

-Consider investing in an eye cup. These are great for filling 1/2 full and cupping over the eye and blink it in for a good minute or two. Use fresh medicine for each eye. I love this for scratched corneas as Chickweed, Calendula, and Chamomile will all speed this healing. 

- Fresh Aloe - I once rubbed my eye while chopping hot peppers and the moment I did it I knew I was in for pain. It took about a minute to set in and WOW! My quick thinking husband Jay said 'aloe' as he went to our plant to harvest a leaf. The gel was scooped straight into my eye and the relief was instantaneous. so yes, aloe for the eyes has proved amazing again and again since then. 

-Mama's Breast Milk - Yes, this is an old, old remedy and babes where treated often in the first days with colostrum and mama's milk once in on day three. This may be... the. most. effective. care... for infected eyes. I've seen this work with 1-2 treatments. While is raises many feelings for some, I suggest we remember that we are mammals and nature provides in unique, efficient, and magical ways. 

- Why do I shy away from Eyebright (Euphrasia spp.)? Simple. It's on the 'at risk' list at United Plant Savers due to being over-harvested for medicine and more difficult to grow. Let's take the strain off of Eyebright and lean into more abundant and easy to grow wild and cultivated medicine plants. 

Yes, dilute with distilled water 1:1 (that's equal parts) and drip into eyes. You can re-purpose a saline eye dropper container by popping the tip off and washing well, or just get a 1oz amber glass dropper bottle (better) at the health food store. There are many who report after months of treatment twice a day that there is a reversal of advanced eye disease. Research is under way for glaucoma and cataracts. Do keep this in your bag of tricks for those middle of night 'I can't sleep because my eyes hurt.' complaints. 

Honey Compress is also an easy one for tired, exhausted, strained, or infected eyes - simply apply a fingertip full of good raw local honey or herb infused honey to both closed eyelids and massage the lids and into the eyelashes gently. Rest with a warm wash cloth compress for 15 minutes before rinsing with clean warm water.   

Thank you for coming into my world for a bit today. I do hope I planted a seed deep within you so this may help you one day. Do check out our Monthly Herbal Councils (completely beginner friendly) where we go even deeper into the world of eyes and clear vision and draw medicine from more than the plants.  xo-Jen

Ready to build an apothecary for yourself and loved ones? It's my primary health care system and gives so much support. Let's work together to get yours up and running. It's easier than you think and so much fun too. See course details:

Coltsfoot has a bit of a different rhythm than most spring beauties around here and gives us some visual depth and relief from the varying shades of winter's predominant shades of grey. Love grey but so welcome other colors! It's a low-growing perennial with fleshy, woolly leaves and is a member of the Asteraceae (daisy) family, Coltsfoot produces a single golden-yellow flower head with no surrounding leaves. It's among some of first blooms in spring, before much greenery has jumped up. You'll find it among rocky moist places and rises only about 6-8 inches in height, though once the leaves emerge, it can get a bit taller. As the flowering stem dies, the hoof-shaped green leaves begin to appear. Yes, a different way than most plants.
​
Yes, there's some good strong medicine here but did you know there's edible parts? Coltsfoot flowers can be eaten and tossed into salads to add a wonderful aromatic flavor and color. These nibbles help us get in rhythm with the season as we march forth to our busier time of year. Shy away from road side harvesting for all the obvious reasons of nasty runoff. While it grows roadside frequently, the best way to seek it is to consider rocky stream bed edges. When I lived in Phoenica, NY we had none on our side of the Esopus creek but you would find me wading across the stream, always cold and sometimes waist deep, with a basket held on top of my head to gather from a massive patch directly across the water. I couldn't resist their waving little faces in the sun, even with painful water temperatures! Definitely makes one hardy. 

• Make an Infused Honey: fill a jar with the flowers and add honey to make a remedy to help calm a cough and ease a fiery throat. Steep for 4 weeks, stirring occasionally, strain and take by the spoonful. (*psst... make now for the fall as this is the only time to get flowers)
• Make a Fresh Coltsfoot Flower Tincture: fill a jar with slightly backed flowers. You can chop them if you want, to increase surface area to the alcohol, but its not necessary. Add 100 proof Vodka or alcohol you like to tincture with. Cover the flowers completely, cap and date/label. Shake from time to time and strain squeezing well through muslin cloth. Re-bottle and label you "Homemade Coltsfoot Tincture' (*)
• Make a Simple Coltsfoot Elixir: there are many ways to make elixirs but my favorite is 2/3 finished tincture and 1/3 honey. Some love maple syrup and others love a 1:1 ratio. You get to decide. 
• Eat the Flowers: yes they are edible for salads, garnishes, and such. Enjoy!
• Harvest Fresh Leaves: return to your harvest spot for leaf harvest a few weeks after the flowers have gone to seed, then add to your fresh flower tincture to boost it even more with leaf too. 
• Harvest and Dry Leaves: Harvest more leaf for drying and store well in glass in a cool, dark place labeled with the date. These can be brewed for infusions or turned into a homemade cough syrups (see recipe below).
• Make an Herbal Vinegar: made must like an alcohol tincture, fill a jar with the flowers, chopped or not, and then fill with apple cider vinegar. Cover with parchment paper if you have a metal lid due to vinegar's reactions with metal that will spoil it all. Shake occasionally and strain in 4 weeks, label and date and keep in a cool dark place. This keeps for a year to take by the tablespoonful in warm or cool water or tea for dosing.
• Make a Coltsfoot Oxymel: Simply add 2/3 of your Coltsfoot vinegar to 1/3 honey into a bottle for dosing, shake and label with the date, and take by the tablespoonful for dosing.
• Make some kick-ass Coltsfoot & Thyme Cough Syrup: (recipe below)
• Make a Coltsfoot Flower Essence: if you've learn this easy skill then you know just what to do and now's the time to do it. Green Hope Farm offers the essence made already for us if you wish to purchase it with this to guide us: 

"Recovery from orthopedic injury, and to increase flexibility.
Coltsfoot offers a road map for repair and recovery from any orthopedic injury or challenge as it holds much helpful information about our bones, muscles and the realm of movement in our physical bodies. It also helps us with flexibility in the physical body as well as in our attitude towards all change. Coltsfoot also helps us more easily revise and expand our definition of reality as new truths come to us." - Green Hope Farm

Watch for 'Common Name' Confusion: The common name is Coltsfoot, latin name Tussilago farfara, and these pics will help you seek the right plant. There is also a 'Coltsfoot' known as Western Coltsfoot or Butterbur, latin name Petasites palmatus which looks very different and is a completely different plant. Just a heads up to clear any confusion if you're searching the web for information and live where both grow. 

 When researching Coltsfoot you will see many warnings due to the (pyrrolizidine alkaloid) compounds that give this plant its healing edge when things are serious in the respiratory system. It's usually worded something like this,  "Despite serious safety concerns, people take Coltsfoot for lung problems such as bronchitis, asthma, and whooping cough (pertussis). They also take it for upper respiratory tract complaints including sore mouth and throat, cough, and hoarseness." This compound is found in Comfrey leaf as well and you may be aware of all the concerns surrounding Comfrey? Ease your concerns and avoidance tactics with the stronger medicine plants and come learn the wise medicine ways. We need the stronger plants but we also need to know how to dose safely. Most of the bad media is from improper dosing. The same is true for improper dosing of acetaminophen, as you will go into an unstoppable liver failure with what many see as a safe medication when taken incorrectly. Here at ElderMoon School we covered Comfrey in depth to eliminate confusion and walk strong with our stronger medicines in our Monthly Herbalists Councils, open to all so do check them out, For now let's speak of wise ways with Coltsfoot.

First thing to remember, Coltsfoot is not a tonic designed for long term dosing. We take this plant for acute health situation of the lungs, as mentioned and quoted correctly above. This means we take an infusion, tincture, or syrup/elixir for a couple of weeks to get through an acute situation with the respiratory system. You would not take this regularly for chronic lungs issues, such as COPD, asthma, sarcoidosis of the lungs, lung cancer, and emphysema, to name a few. So let's choose one to break this down a bit. Let's look at the epidemic we have around asthma. Listed above as a condition to take Coltsfoot, it would be wise to take for a few weeks for an acute flareup of the chronic condition. So think of it this way, such as with hyper-reactivity of the lungs (which looks like increased asthmatic episodes) in response to a flu. This happens for my son. I know when a virus has landed in his body because the asthma symptoms flare sometimes two days prior to any other symptoms and I start to treat for the flu preemptively. Should it come and settle deeper into his lungs then I treat directly with Coltsfoot a week or two. Make sense?

Here's another example: If someone has sarcoidosis of the lungs (an inflammatory disease that affects multiple organs in the body, but mostly the lungs and lymph glands), then they would take Coltsfoot for a few weeks for an acute flareup or complication that started because they have an underlying chronic condition. Let's say they got pneumonia. The Coltsfoots is meant to address the acute situation of pneumonia with strong medicine for short term dosing. The person with the chronic lung condition can take other tonifying respiratory plants on a long term basis to address the underlying chronic condition and this tactic strengthens their resistance over all. 

Much of the lousy media around certain plants happens when people are desperate for a cure of a chronic condition, think "Hey, it's a plant so it has to be safe no matter what.", and then diagnose, dose and treat themselves incorrectly with a medicine plant that traditionally treats acute conditions. 

Does this makes sense? Do send questions so we can dispel the lousy media and walk with solid wise choices for when we are sick by knowing the strong medicine plants well, along with safe dosing. 

Dosing with Coltsfoot is Simple:
For Adults take the Infusion 1 cup 3-4x/day; Tincture 1/4-1/2 teaspoon 3-4x/day; Honeys, Syrups, Elixirs, Vinegars, and Oxymels are taken by the tablespoonful every 2-4 hours or as needed. These doses can be taken for up to 2-3 weeks but most will many will barely need two weeks of treatment for lung ailments of the acute type like respiratory flu or cold, bronchitis, pneumonia, and chelation of something inhaled that is noxious leaving congestion and coughing. Whooping cough (pertussis) will need a full three weeks as it tends to be quite persistent. Then switch to others such as Mulein leaf and Elecampane root for longer treatment.  Do not exceed three weeks with Coltsfoot on these doses. Always consider other therapies, lifestyle changes, and diet to support respiratory health.

I have given Coltsfoot to all three of my children, as well as guided mothers and fathers in my community for decades now on when and how to take this plant so please ignore the exaggerated warnings - 'never give to children' that are made by people who do not know this plant well. Consider the child's weight and reduce the dose accordingly and give to children older than one that need respiratory help. It is safe for short term dosing as described. Children under one, I love to treat with Chamomile always. Bathe them in it and watch miracles happen!

Coltsfoot is also found in many well made herbal cough drops so once a child is able to manage a cough drop they can have these too. 

Inhaling burning plants is nothing new to humans, You will find some people who enjoy blends that have Coltsfoot added, and some people waft the smoke in a home where there are colds and flus to help settle the lungs much the way White Sage and Mullein leaf are burned. A small amount of gently wafted smoke near someone who is sick provides antimicrobial and antispasmodic properties quickly and efficiently to the lungs. Seems counter-intuitive, yes, if your thinking of it like a cigarette. Rolling and smoking when sick is not the best or intended way. Think gentle wafting of the smudge-like burned smoke for quick assistance. While this is not my favorite way to work with Coltsfoot, I do have the leaf in smudging blends for clearing the air, particularly when airborne microbes are attempting to survive in my home. 

INGREDIENTS:

• a handful of fresh thyme sprigs (or buy organic, dry leaves here 1 tablespoon)
• 3 tablespoons dried coltsfoot leaf (or 2 tablespoons of this with 1 tablespoon of elderberries if you have) 
• 2-3 thin slices of ginger root - organic
• 1 pint of water (2 cups)
• ½ cup honey - raw local unpasteurized 
• ½ lemon/organic chopped into wedges and squeezed to release juices a bit - I like to muddle them with the top end of big wooden spoon in the jar that will house the final syrup.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Place the chopped lemon in the pint jar and cover with the honey. The honey will macerate the lemons and draw out liquids which taste so delicious!
2. Meanwhile, toss the thyme, coltsfoot and ginger into a saucepan and cover them with the water.
3. Bring the water to a gentle simmer and reduce it to half, about a cup of strong tea.
4. When the tea is reduced and cooled to a touchable warmth, strain the sprigs and leaves out, add it into the pint jar, cap and shake well to mix, label and date it.
5. Spoon around the lemons and take by the tablespoonful of syrup as needed or every 2-4 hours until the lungs show signs of relief, then every 4-6 hours
6. Store your homemade cough syrup in the refrigerator for about a month. It will get a little bitter over time from the lemon pith. Good! This supports the liver for better digestion during illness downtime. 

May your explorations of Coltsfoot be rich and beautiful as we lean into our wild plants for walking strong these days. xo- Jen

All salvias have medicinal qualities. Culinary Sage, Salvia officinalis, makes fantastic medicine and is easy to walk with, especially if you’re just starting out with herbs. If you have access to White Sage, I’d encourage you to try the White Sage leaf in your water bottle, just to experience where that sort of relationship with a plant might lead you. 
 
Here’s a quick overview of the medicinal properties of White Sage, Salvia apiana: 

• Prevent and eliminate head colds taken internally or added to your netty pot as fresh tincture 3 drops.
• Soothe and heal sore throats as a gargle 
• Thins secretions and clears the sinuses with internal doses and in netty pot
• Speeds up our immune response to the flu with internal doses and whole body bathing by adding tea to the bath. Supports fever management. 
• Eases asthma (my son is sensitive to smoke, but not from White Sage) with internal low dosing as a tea or tincture and gentle smudge inhalation.
• Thins and reduces secretions while it aids healing the lungs with internal doses, bathing, and gentle smudge inhalation
• Aids digestion, eases runny bowels and has bitter actions to break down fats and support the liver when taken as internally doses
• Improves sleep, eases anxiety within the body, heart and mind, calms the soul - taken in all medicinal delivery routes
• Invigorates the blood and regulates cycles within the body with internal dosing
• Eases menstrual pain and heavy flow plus hot flashes and heart palpitations; supports necessary and wise hormonal transitions women with internal low doses
• Dries things up, such as excessive bleeding, or breast milk during weaning with internal dosing
• The seeds were ground into flour for food; also steeped as tea for disinfecting eye washes
• Tightens and tones tissues; such as gums or open wounds, or irritated intestines taken with gargles, wound washes and internal dosing respectively
• Supports spiritual practices: such as meditation, journey, writing, creative outlets, retreats and pilgrimages, creating altars, healing work, space clearing and tending, blessings, ceremony and ritual work when utilized in all medicinal route forms appropriate for the situation.  

 
Yes, Now The Warnings:
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When OVERUSED, meaning too frequent or in too high of a dose, there is a strong alkaloid compound known as thujone that could irritate the body. Strong medicine must have strong compounds in order to be considered strong. So there should be no surprises when the scientists find such compounds in a plant. In fact let's welcome this. So, too much of this compound will increase heart rate, cause mental confusion, lead to vomiting, restlessness, and kidney complaints.

Instead of feeding fear here, I am asking us to see the wisdom in knowing strong medicine so we can call on it when needed. Be wise. Keep your medicine close. Take it in and take it safely. Know it well in your mind AND your body and walk strong with it. Honoring White Sage....

 xo-Jen

ElderMoon School of Herbs
EMS has on-going Herbal Classes, on-line and in-person, to support the expanding desire among us to know the plants intimately as part of one's healthcare system for ourselves and loved ones. Deepening our relationship with the plants is where it all starts. 'Begin anyway' is our mantra. Have a look around and email if you feel called or have questions.

Tree Donations and Prayer Bundles for Ecuador? Email me directly for my address and details at: [email protected]  

Thank you for supporting small businesses and grassroot projects world wide. Change does happen from our seemingly small efforts. It just may be the only way. xo-Jen

Trees are sanctuaries. They hold the map of the past through their whole body, as unique as a fingerprint, but reach upward and outward toward a future we sometimes struggle to see. As a small child my closest relationship to any tree was White Pine. When I close my eyes, I can still feel the sway of the sixty foot White Pine I climbed to the top of regularly to my favorite spot where I could wedge my little six year body into a nook and safely drift about on the wind with the branches. The floating feeling in the belly holds moments akin to flying. I would bring bread and seeds as offerings to the mama birds nesting up there and sometimes nap softly to the rocking of such a great mother dancing with the wind. I climbed up there for years until we moved away at fourteen but never has my connection to White Pine been changed by geography.

Fall is traditionally the season for bark harvest and it may be one of my most satisfying medicine making tasks. It requires I lean into my relationship with a tree and these relationships are different than with smaller herbaceous plants. Yes, we can have different relationships with and honor the plants, trees, animals, insects, people, and even the elements, landscapes, and microbial world.

The task of whittling bark with my sons over the years has always been enthusiastically received here. This was how a good knife and the care of such tools was first introduced to them. When whittling, the mind also enters that hypnotic, trance-like state of being, much the way gazing at a fire captivates us to higher thinking. The therapeutic medicine is already working just by being available to such a connected, receptive state. Rushing about, task oriented, with a connection to time that is stressed and manic will never produce a medicine nearly as potent as one made with the process honored. Seeking connection to the trees is the beginning. Knowing how to find, tend, intuit, harvest, and make good medicine that can live near you, in your home apothecary, is what I speak to here.   

What is bark to you? Some describe is as being like our skin and this is in some ways true. Bark is constantly growing and changing based on the needs of the tree and the influence of its surroundings in the local environment. We can see this within the rings of the tree and how widely spaced or close together they are and scientists study this fingerprint of the weather the tree endured within its life. Elevation changes how trees grow as well and they are smaller and smaller with higher elevations in some regions.

Interacting with the world around them determines what strong chemical constituents a tree will make. We make medicine from the plants, or in this case the trees, that make chemical compounds to ward off insects, disease, sun damage, and other elemental and environmental exposures. Their protective medicine made for their health is what we take in and stimulate within our bodies. It's so simple but still full of such magic for me in that we can literally be this connected to the plants and trees. Many forget. But many are remembering too.

Trees are part of a network system within a forest and so they’re very design includes interacting within community as a way to thrive and protect themselves and make strong compounds along the way. Bark contains the growing cells of the tree, as well as the cells required to transport water and sugar for photosynthesis on a cellular level. Bark is always interacting with the rest of the tree, the surrounding trees, the mycorrhizae in the soil, and is constantly reading and responding to any changes in its surroundings. Demystifying plant magic with the science surfacing today that proves these connections to be true does not remove the magic for me. I hope this is true for you. It is still truly amazing how trees, plants, people and all living things create form from water, sun, air and earth.  

So just under the thick outer bark is the layer we seek for medicine making. The outer bark is not the place to harvest for this is a hardened protective coat. We are seeking the cambium layer that is the alive and actively responding part of the tree. It can be white, green, yellow, even pink, and is generally smooth, moist, and clearly alive as a thin layer of active cells that surrounds the entire tree just under the tougher outer bark. 

"Ethical Wildcrafting' was a term coined decades ago in the herbal medicine world and is the practice of harvesting plants and trees conscientiously, to avoid damaging the health of the population or the overall ecological system they thrive in. It’s especially important here because if you don’t harvest bark properly, you will literally kill the tree. The basic principles of harvesting are simple:

• Harvest so the tree can live and thrive too – otherwise seek a different medicine
• Harvest only what you truly need - the rule is to harvest enough to get the next harvest season

This issue is close to my heart, as I’ve watched plant populations decline as people violate the sanctity of the natural world in the name of fear and greed. Ignorance is no excuse either. Honoring the basic principles of land stewardship means simply being a human who acknowledges the interconnection of all things in the natural world. Every action we take on a piece of land requires the natural world to respond to it. So we would be kind and wise to ask ourselves how our choice affects the whole. Harvest intentionally and teach the people around you to do the same so our natural world stays abundant, potent, and thriving. 

Follow United Plant Savers as a great resource for staying aware of at risk and endangered plant and tree species. 

Maybe you can imagine the impact of removing one tree because of poor or unintentional reasons. The most common way to kill a tree fast and efficiently is by ‘girdling the tree’, or removing a section of bark around the entire circumference of the trunk of the tree. Please do NOT remove bark all the way around the base of the tree like this. Girdling kills the tree because the leaves and roots can no longer connect and transport water, nutrients and sugar between the tree top and roots. This leaves the tree to starve to death. Girdling is one thing if you’re carving a homestead out of the wilderness for it’s a time-honored way of clearing forest, but it’s something entirely different if you’re just doing it because you don’t know any better or are filled with greed or have blatant disrespect. And all of this affects the medicine.

We're being asked to think in terms of the ecology of restoration instead of consuming and taking. 'Having enough' is built into the restoration way of being. 
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​Tools & Timing:

• Pruners, saw, pole pruners are great for reaching high
• A small, sharp straight edge knife
• Towels or sarongs to drape over the lap of the whittler to catch the shavings

Harvest bark when the nights become cool, the days are warm and crisp, and the leaves are changing color and just starting to fall. You want the tree’s energy to be focused on shunting all of its activity down to the Earth for winter. This concentrates the medicine into the moving part of the bark we spoke of called the cambium layer.

Common species that make great medicine include White Willow, Wild Cherry, Witch Hazel, White Oak, Sassafras, Black or Silver Birch, Black Haw, White Pine, Cedar, Juniper, Hemlocks, Spruce and more depending on the part of the world one lives in. It’s wise to also find the trees you are seeking medicine from in the early fall so you can positively identify them when they still have leaves. As you spend more and more time with the trees, you will know them from the bark which is always quite unique. Once your tree is located, simply return when the time for harvesting arrives. Choose a smaller tree so you can reach the branches or get a pole pruner. These scouting trips are part of your connection, relationship, and honoring of the medicine within the bark of the tree that calls. Be aware to never harvest on state lands at all or other's property without permission.

While scouting and finding your tree, do taste the tree. Cut or pinch off a little twig, after intuiting a sense of permission and affirming this is ‘the tree’ I seek. Chew on it until you get a good sense of the flavor. Then spit it out if need be. With a little experience, you’ll be able to tell how strong the medicine will be from this tree. Even if you’ve never tasted this medicine before, know that strongly medicinal barks will affect your mouth almost immediately. Willow and Witch Hazel suck up all the spit in your mouth (astringent), sassafras makes your mouth feel watery and slippery,(demulcent), black birch tastes like root beer or wintergreen for some (aromatic), Wild Cherry tastes a bit nasty but is identifiable as such, Pines taste just like the sap smells (aromatic) and these essential oils travel quickly up through your sinuses and down to your lungs. If you don’t notice anything, even if you don’t know what it should taste like, move on and be sure to only make medicine from a tree you absolutely know.
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If you’re not routinely tasting the plants you harvest, i suggest getting into the habit. This is one of the skills of an herbalist for testing quality, just as you would use all your senses to choose vegetables or fruits. The medicine person does the same for evaluating the medicine. Medicinal content changes throughout the season and from year to year, based on where each tree is in its growing and reproductive cycle, and what its life has been like this year. This is true for smaller herbaceous plants too. If a particular tree isn’t strong enough this year, come back next year and see what it says to you.

​So now you’re sure you’ve got the right tree, and it tastes great (or terrible) so you know it’s got some magic and good medicine in it.

Next I offer a gift to the tree. This a traditional way of working and you can decide what works for you. A moment of silence, a song, a prayer, some of your lunch or water, or a handmade something that honors the tree you are taking medicine from. 

The next step is to harvest the bark. Choose a small branch, maybe the size of your wrist or smaller. Find a place where the branch branches, then identify the collar, or the fatter part at the base of the branch. Use your pruners or saw to cut the branch just beyond the collar; if you cut into the collar itself, the tree won’t heal well and could rot from microbial invasions at the site. Make your cut parallel with the collar, so water won’t collect in the cut. Don’t let the wood split or crack, cut it cleanly so you don’t hurt the part of the branch you’re leaving behind; if necessary, cut part of the way through from the bottom up, then finish by cutting from the top down. Remember that the priority is to not hurt the tree: don’t take more than the tree can spare, don’t take more than you can use, and don’t make cuts that will hurt the tree long term.

For smaller quantities needed because you know a large branch is too much, I cut thumb-sized branches and estimate how many to fulfill my needs. You get better at this estimating with time and practice. 

Bring the branches to your place in the sun, like me here, bring inside by the fire if it's too cold out for you. Look them over carefully and wipe off any dirt, lichen, insects etc. Use the pruners to remove tiny twigs and pile them up for they’re medicinal but you don’t need to save them unless you have a use for them. I often add pine needles to my bark preparations, just for the record. So now you can cut the branches into smaller pieces at this point to make them more manageable, 1-2 foot sections work well. When you’re ready to whittle the bark, sit with one end of a branch in your non-dominant hand, and the other over your lap in front of you. Use your knife to whittle down the length of the branch, always working the knife away from you so there are not accidents, removing long strips of bark. You want to make sure you get the cambium layer, the inner bark that contains all the good medicine, but not the wood. Remember, the cambium can be white, green, yellow, or pink, and is generally smooth, moist, and clearly alive. If you’re shaving off wood, make your cuts shallower; if you’re leaving the cambium on the wood, go back and shave it again. If you’re struggling to shave the bark, try switching knives because sometimes a different size, shape, or well sharpened blade does the trick. When you’re done, the branch should be all wood with no bark visible. Unneeded parts make good kindling for the fire. 

To make bark medicine, you can tincture it fresh in alcohol or vinegar, infuse it in olive oil for topical uses, or dry it for later uses of bathing, teas and decoctions, or syrup making.

Drying Bark: Spread the bark in a single layer on a drying rack in a cool, dark place, and stir regularly until dry, a few days to no more than a week. Even better is a dehydrator. Once it’s dry, store in jars, or bags away from light and well labeled. Dried bark is useful for teas and decoctions, ground into poultices.

Fresh Bark Tincture or Vinegar: Bark, because it is so fibrous and dense, needs more liquid to extract all the medicine so fill your jar with the fresh whittled bark and don’t pack it too tight. Most barks prefer lower alcohol content, too, so use 40%-50% alcohol (vodka or brandy work well). Next fill the jar with the alcohol or vinegar and cap tight and shake. Label well with the common name, latin name and date. Shake a few times per week, store away from direct light and you can strain and use after two months. It will keep for more than 10 years.  

Dried Bark Tincture: I fill my jar 1/2 full with dried bark if you have or needed to buy it already harvested. Then fill with your vodka or brandy or warmed vinegar, cap and shake a few times per week for 2 months, labeled well. Strain, re-bottle and label for use. 

I hope you decide to give this a try! It’s so easy and satisfying, especially in the dead of winter when you clear up that cough with your own White Pine Bark vinegar or tincture, or help a brutal headache with White Willow Bark you made yourself with the tree right outside your window that you love deeply, or eased postpartum swelling or hemrroids with a Witch Hazel Bark sitz bath. I love hearing your successes and failures with medicine making as we all learn equally from both. Do let me know how it goes! My recipe for Root Beer Syrup is always better with fresh whittled Black Birch Bark. Enjoy.  xo-Jen