the Witchen Kitchen Beginner Herbal

tammy August 31st, 2010

I recently cleaned my floors and baseboards and other surfaces with Rosemary infusion. Yes, just a simple infusion made with a handful of fresh and dried Rosemary, boiled in water, and left to infuse over night. The result was a beautiful mahogany colored, resinous, vibrant smelling solution that tastes as good as it dissolves grease and grime.  And it’s antiseptic, so it will kill germs too.

What? You don’t feel like cleaning the house today? A sip or two of Rosemary infusion may change all that. Rosemary has long been used as a tonic and pick-me-up, so have some before you get started.

As one of the loveliest culinary herbs, it truly does taste as good as it cleans. Now I ask you, how many cleaning solutions can you actually drink before you clean with them? Just a little, please. A strong infusion like this will go a long way. Feel free to dilute it with fresh water and/or add some honey if you like.  And you can drink it either hot or cold.

Now that you’ve tasted and felt the energy of this plant, put a little of your infusion to the side (I’ll tell you why in a minute), and use the rest to bless the house. Pour it into a bucket, dip your cloth in, and clean away!

Watch the dirt disappear and notice how the energy will begin to shift toward peace, love, and happiness. I feel this energy shift in my body when I drink it, and I feel it in my house as I dip in and out of the water, inhaling the divine fragrance, cleansing my space. I sometimes smudge with Rosemary too.

When the house is finally clean, take a shower, shampoo your hair, and use the bit you put aside earlier for a hair rinse. Some will skip the shampoo and use the infusion mixed with baking soda as their sole hair cleanser. Others will mix the infusion with a bit of castile soap for an all natural shampoo that lathers.

Rosemary is especially good for oily hair.  Just like it will gently dissolve grease and dirt on the floors, without stripping them, and leaving behind a lovely squeaky clean shine, it will do the same for your hair. If you have oily skin and/or blemishes, you might also want to dab some infusion on your skin.  Again, Rosemary is antiseptic, so it’s a great thing to use for acne.

As a medicinal herb, Rosemary is considered by some to be a near panacea, and it also has a rich folkloric history.  There is a ton of information to be had, but I’ve included just a few links and books I personally enjoyed below, for your reading pleasure.

So revel in your Rosemary blessing, inside and out.

Embrace the happiness. Smell the freshness. Notice the shine.

See it.  Feel it. Believe it.

——————————————

Links:

Now Remember Rosemary, by Susun Weed

A Modern Herbal – Rosemary

Rosmarinus Officinalis – Dew of the Sea, by Kristena Roder

Witchipedia – Rosemary

Herbal Books (that have wonderful sections on Rosemary):

The Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants

Common Herbs for Natural Health (Herbals of Our Foremothers)

Opening Our Wild Hearts to the Healing Herbs

• Cosmetics, Body Care , Earth Spirituality , Food as Medicine , Herbal Remedies , Household Cleaners
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tammy July 16th, 2010

Today I peeled and seeded over 5 pounds of tomatoes (organically grown in our garden). This involved boiling a big pot of water in which to blanch them for a minute or so, then dipping them into a large bowl of ice water.  The skin then peels off easily, and slicing them in half makes it easy to squeeze the seeds out. This process took forever!

Tomato Skins and Seeds

I’ve since remembered that you can also put the tomatoes into the freezer, then when you take them out and thaw them, the skins come off just as easily.  I did that last year a couple times, and it saved a lot of work without all the water and boiling and dipping in and out of hot and cold water. I will definitely go that route with the next batch… much easier.

Tomatoes

Then I chopped jalapeno peppers (from our garden) until my entire hands were burning. I scratched my nose and had my face on fire also. I can still taste the peppers on my hands and feel the fire, even though I’ve washed them several times and also had a shower.

Then on to mince about 12 cloves of garlic (from our garden), chop some onions, cilantro and tomatoes.  Put them all together with some lemon juice, water and salt to make 2 quarts of lacto-fermented salsa.

Lacto-fermenting Salsa

THEN, I chopped some more onions and green peppers and garlic, and the processed tomatoes, to make an amazing batch of homemade spaghetti sauce.  I added quite a bit of dried holy basil and oregano (both from our garden), some salt, a pinch of sugar, and some sweet white wine.

Holy Basil

I let it cook for an hour or so, used the hand blender to puree it all together, and let it simmer for another 3 hours.  This will be delicious with some sweet Italian sausage and some quinoa pasta.

Spaghetti Sauce

At the end of it all I was in the kitchen for over 4 hours.  Chopping and processing all those vegis takes quite a long time, not to mention the clean up.

I’m tired.

The end.

• Cooking , Food as Medicine , Organic Gardening
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tammy July 8th, 2010

I just read over some of the posts I wrote here over the last couple of years, and find myself feeling very sad, even shedding tears.  I think I am mourning the spiritual connection and authenticity that exuded from my writing as I was on the threshold of a major transition in my life.  I seem to have misplaced that connection, along with my writer’s voice, as I have navigated the waters of tremendous change recently, and I long to have it back again.

You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t been writing very much here at all the last year or two.  Back when my marriage was ending in 2008, I found that my writing voice was stronger than it had ever been. During that time I was suffocating and needing freedom, and I found space through which to breathe via my relationships with plants and my writing on WitchenKitchen. Oh the dreams I dreamed, the insights I gained, the personal growth I experienced during that time!  I connected to the plants and my innermost self when I couldn’t connect to my partner, and my, how the words did flow!

But when that relationship was actually over, I unexpectedly found myself adrift at sea with nothing but emotional survival on my mind.  I no longer had a home with plants I knew intimately just outside my door, no herb cupboard or kitchen to experiment in.  By my own choice, I moved all my furniture and personal belongings to a hot, musty storage unit, put my jars of tinctures and oils and dried herbs into boxes and stacked them in a spare room at my mother’s house. I knew I would get back to them someday, but for the time being, I could only look longingly at the boxes.

I wouldn’t even open those boxes to get tea ingredients, because I knew I’d only have to pack them up again, and it was all just too, too sad for me.  During this transition, I couldn’t communicate at all with the plants, could barely even go outside and just sit with them.  I could hardly write a word on the topic, save short little snippets on my Facebook page.

Then a little while later, I fell in love and started a new relationship.  Suddenly I was whirling around, caught up in a fantastic and blissful adventure.  You’d think my thoughts would be overflowing and spilling from my pen, but being in love can be one of the most overwhelming things a person can experience.  As we busily went about establishing the foundations for a long term relationship and making a home together, I still could not find my spiritual center, and I could not write.

I tried a few times.  I can’t tell you how many drafts of articles I penned, but ultimately trashed because they had no authenticity.

As my partner and I began our journey together, I unpacked most of my herbs and put them in a cupboard in our home just for them, but I would almost never go get anything out to actually use.  I grew vegetable gardens, but that was hardly a substitute for connecting with wild plants as I had once done.  I would walk around our yard sometimes looking at wild, growing things, but lacked the motivation to go get my books and try to i.d. the unknown plants, or bring any of them into my kitchen to get to know them better. I maintained my interest and a certain longing, but from a distant, uncommitted place.

My priority and focus through all this relationship upheaval has been to re-establish solid human connections…  the plants and my writing, well, they just had to wait.

My new relationship has stabilized and grown a solid base now, and I feel my feet touching the Earth again.  I feel I have regained a home base and roots from which to spread my branches. My heart is telling me that I can now safely turn my attention elsewhere from time to time and be sure that I won’t go spinning off into the unknown, unconnected abyss. I am ready to reclaim myself, my spiritual connections, and my words.

I felt my passion for all things green rekindling during our recent family beach vacation, when the local plants began calling out to me again. I heard them intensely and insistently, and felt a familiar and overwhelming desire to research and write about them again.  Perhaps they have been calling all along, but only now have I come to a resting spot where I can hear them.

I hope you will continue this journey with me, as I find the words to share it with you here.

• Earth Spirituality , Wise Woman Wisdom
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tammy June 26th, 2010

I just returned from a relaxing vacation on the beaches of the Outer Banks of North Carolina, and met some sweet new plant friends.  Although I saw many herbs that were new to me, a couple really caught my attention and inspired me to get to know them better. I wanted to share my research with you.

Large-leaf Pennywort (Hydrocotyle bonariensis)

Large-leaf Pennywort (Hydrocotyle bonariensis)
Prolific is the first word that comes to mind when I think of this plant.  Several sources classify this plant as invasive, and I can see why. It was everywhere along the coast, on and near the dunes.

I was attracted to the succulent, brilliant green, and round foliage, with a small, whitish dot in the center. It exudes archetypal wholeness, a sacred naval of the world, appearing to contain a full universe within each perfect leaf. Very plump and moist and healthy, even though it was growing out of dry, hot, sand.

I only know the name of this plant because of a book I picked up at the Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge we visited while at the beach.  The book is titled “A Guide to Ocean Dune Plants common to North Carolina” by E. Jean Wilson Kraus. None of the other herbal reference books on my shelves (and I have a lot) mention Hydrocotyle at all.

In my internet research, I found very little specific and reliable information on the possible medicinal properties of this plant. The few references I did find, indicated it may have possibly been used as an alterative for various skin and kidney disorders, as well as arthritis.

Not knowing a single thing about this lovely little plant when I discovered it, except that I found it beautiful, I didn’t do very much hands-on experimenting on our first meeting. As I sat with it, I imagined it could bring moisture and coolness to dry, inflamed tissues. Perhaps it could deliver some kind of cosmic energy to a tired spirit, renewing life force in the cells of the body. Its personality seemed to me to be very similar to Chickweed. Roundness, balance, greenness, longevity… these are the words that came to mind.  Since many sources indicated that H. bonariensis is edible, raw and cooked, I will feel safe to experiment a bit more next time I am on the coast.

Other common names I came across for this particular species: Water Pennywort, Beach Pennywort, Marsh Pennywort, Salt Pennywort, Coast Pennywort, Dollarweed, Sombrerillo, Waternaval. I will certainly be looking for more ethno-botanical information under any and all of these names. If you have any tidbits to share, I would love to hear them.

In my next post I want to talk about Fire-wheel, Indian Blanket (Gaillardia pulchella), another coastal plant that captured my heart and imagination while I was in the Outer Banks. 

• Earth Spirituality , Herbal Remedies , Wild Crafting
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tammy June 14th, 2009

I finally have Mullien that I can harvest! I have admired them from afar for several years now, but never had any I could get to easily for medicine making. Here she is just beginning to flower. I see Mullien flower oil, and dried Mullien leaf for infusion, and Mullien leaf syrup, and Mullien root tincture in my future!

Want to know more about the medicinal properties of Mullien? Read this excellent article written by Michigan herbalist, Jim McDonald: http://www.herbcraft.org/mullein.html

The violet is prolific here also this year… off to gather some to dry for nourishing infusions!

• Herbal Remedies , Wild Crafting
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tammy February 2nd, 2009

My new favorite winter nourishing herbal infusion is a combination of equal parts violet leaf and linden flowers, with a hefty pinch of nettle seeds. Pour a quart of boiling water over, seal, and let sit for 4 hours or more. Strain and drink. Yumm!!!

This blend is addressing my winter constitutional dryness beautifully, moistening up those mucous membranes, easing digestion, helping to purify the blood, and nourishing my kidneys and adrenals, which tend to be weak. Plus I think it tastes really, really good. I’m loving it!

What are your favorite winter infusion and tea blends?

Personal note: Sorry for the scimpy posts of late. This winter is turning out to be a transformational one for me. I’m going through a lot of transitions at the moment. I will get back to focusing on my herbs and blogging soon! Thanks for being patient

• Food as Medicine , Herbal Remedies
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tammy January 13th, 2009

Dear readers, I simply can NOT get motivated to go out into the cold and dig any roots!  So alas, I am postponing that article once again.  Instead, I thought I would share with you how I made this lovely herbal eye pillow in less than an hour today.

I am making these to use with my massage clients.  They are divine laid over the eyes just as they are, but they can also be heated or cooled to make a hot or cold pack.  Just pop them in the freezer for a couple of hours, or sprinkle some water on them and microwave them for about a minute or two.  Very nice to sooth a headache or a muscle ache. And they are super easy to make and fast.  I literally spent less than an hour doing this, from start to finish.

Warning: I do not measure anything, so if you need exact measurements these are not the instructions for you!

First gather the materials.  You will need some fabric, some dried herbs, and some flax seed or rice, plus your usual sewing tools and thread.  The flax or rice will help to hold the heat or cold if you use it as a hot or cold pack, and give it some weight to help hold it in place on the body. The herbs should be something that smells nice.  You can choose something relaxing like lavender buds or rose petals, or something more energetic like peppermint or rosemary, or any kind of pleasant combination you can think of!  You want to choose a fairly sturdy fabric that will not pull apart at the seams or let the herbs or the flax/rice poke through with use over time.

I have a big box of fabric scraps that I have saved over the years from various sewing projects.  I chose a nice thick flannel for the main pillow.  This will hold up for a long time, and can be wet for the microwave without leaving water spots on the fabric.  Because I am wanting to reuse mine with multiple clients, I also made a removable cover that can be washed between clients. For the cover I chose a more elegant silky fabric.  I chose to fill my pillow with lavender buds and flax as these were what I had on hand at the moment.

Next, make the pillow. Make two layers of fabric, wrong side out, and then eyeball about how big you want the finished pillow to be.  Add just a little more all around to allow for the seam.  Cut the fabric to the desired size.  This does not have to be exact!  Just think of the average face and about how big it should be to cover the eyes comfortably.

Sew the two layers together, but leave one side open so you can fill it with the herbs and flax. Flip it right side out before filling.

Fill with your herbs and flax or rice.  I did one scoop of flax, then one scoop of lavender, then one scoop of flax… and so on until it was full.

Finally, tuck the raw edges of the open end inside and sew it up.  I used the sewing machine because it was faster, but if you don’t want your stitches to show you could do it with a needle and thread and hide them.

If desired, make a removable cover. For this you want to make a little envelope for the pillow that can be taken off and washed when necessary.

To cut the fabric, you can use your finished pillow as a guide.  I laid mine on the fabric and wrapped it up to see how big it needed to be (allowing for the seams… don’t forget the seams!).  It’s okay if the finished cover is a little big, but not okay if it is too small, so err on the side of slightly larger than you think you will need.

After the fabric is cut to the desired size, hem the edges that will overlap and open to take the pillow in and out (see photos of finished cover above and hemming below).

Fold the fabric wrong side out with the hemmed edges overlapping by about an inch or so.  Sew the ends together.

Flip it right side out and you are done!  Then you will just need to tuck your pillow inside.

Viola! You have a beautiful new herbal eye pillow!  (And, I swear, it took me longer to put this blog post together than it did to make the pillow!)

• Cosmetics, Body Care , Herbal Remedies
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tammy December 28th, 2008

When I read this herbal by Linda Ours Rago I felt like I was reading about my own little piece of the world.  The achingly beautiful descriptions of the land and the plants she examines make me feel homesick and anxious to step outside my door, where I know I will find the very same plant communities, the very same smells, the very same colors.

In Blackberry Cove Herbal: Healing with Common Herbs in the Appalachian Wise Woman Tradition, Rago details the seasons and plants common to the region around the Blue Ridge Mountains, specifically at her Blackberry Cove Appalachian mountain farm in West Virginia.

The herbal is organized by season and gives lots of specific information about which plants are available for wild crafting in this region during every month of the year, and also lots of ideas for what to do with them.  She includes many recipes for time honored herbal remedies of the Appalachian wise woman tradition, and also weaves in the lore and magick of the culture as they relate to the plants.

I live on the other side of the Blue Ridge, in Virginia, so my ecosystem is pretty similar to hers.  I have found all the plants she covers growing at pretty much the same times she describes.  This herbal would make a wonderful beginners guide for a year long study of common local plants if you happen to live in this bio-region.

And even if you don’t live around here, many of the plants described are quite common in a variety of regions and much useful information can be gleaned.  The book is also beautifully written and beautifully illustrated, and is an enjoyable read, regardless.

Here is an excerpt from “December”:

…[O]ne hearty cup of pink sassafras root tea every spring will charge up your metabolism and thin your winter-sluggish blood.

The oldest Appalachian grandmothers say we should find a spot plentiful with sassafras seedlings.  Then after a hard frost in December, near the dark of the moon, tell the whole grove that you appreciate their strength and beauty and need their good medicine.  Pull up one entire small seedling, cut off the whole top, and save the roots.  Wash them well in running water, cut in three-inch lengths, dry slowly in a warm oven, and store away until spring.

In early spring place five pieces of root in a pot with a quart of cold springwater.  Bring to a boil and simmer gently for fifteen minutes. The water will turn a rosy color.  Sweeten with sugar or honey.  Take no more than a cup a day for several days.

Save the roots, dry them again, and resuse them over and over until the decoction no longer turns pink or has that distinctive sassafras aroma.

And speaking of digging Sassafras roots, I promise that post on root medicine is coming soon!  I had forgotten how busy this week would be… no time for root diggin’ yet! Today will be nice, so I think I will get out there later this afternoon.  Sassafras is on my list of roots to gather, along with Poke, Blackberry, Mullien…

• Book review , Herbal Remedies , Wild Crafting , Wise Woman Wisdom
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tammy December 17th, 2008

Very cool!

Read the article, Back to Nature: Top 100 Herbal Medicine Blogs, here:
http://www.nursingdegree.net/blog/40/back-to-nature-top-100-herbal-medicine-blogs/

(You can find Witchen Kitchen under the subtitle The Basics)

Thanks for the mention, NursingDegree.net!

And thanks to all of YOU READERS! Without you this blog would have no visibility at all.

For my next post… I think it’s time to start digging winter roots!  It has finally been cold enough around here to have the fire burning for a few days straight.  Perfect time to dig roots to infuse in oil on the back of the wood stove!  Stay tuned…

• Fun Stuff
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tammy December 9th, 2008

Since the kids have grown up and had kids of their own, it’s very seldom we are all together at the same time for meaningful activities anymore.  But Saturday turned out to be very magical for us in that way.  We got our first real snow (which only amounted to less than an inch, but hey!) while all of my kids were at the house with their children, so we decided to put up the Christmas tree together.

We’ve been using an artificial tree the last few years, but found when we hauled it out of the shed that mice had made their home in its branches this past season and had peed all over it!  Sorry, not putting the lovely odor of mouse pee all up in my house for Christmas!

So it was snowing, all the kids and grandkids were there together… seemed like perfect timing to go out in the woods and find a live tree this year.  And that’s just what we did.  It was a very special memory we made together, all of us bundled up tromping through the woods, AND we found a beautiful, fat cedar in the perfect shape.  It’s bare on one side, but with that side against the wall you can’t really tell.

At first I had a few reservations about cutting down a perfectly healthy and living tree just to indulge our holiday hoopla, but I have since come to terms with that.  Part of being on a spiritual and sacred earth walk means understanding that all living things participate and contribute to the whole of life, sometimes in life and sometimes in death.

We take the lives of plants and animals everyday to sustain and enhance our own lives.  The hard truth of the matter is that no life can continue unless something else dies to feed it.  I also believe that in some mysterious way, when we honor and gratefully receive these gifts, each living being that gives its life does so as a willing participant.  It is good to honor these everyday sacrifices and give heartfelt thanks when we eat a meal, use a plant for medicine, or even cut down a live Christmas tree.

I believe that in the grand scheme of the Universe, this particular tree we brought home grew in that very spot, to just the right size and shape, for just that moment when it gave its life to be a part of our family’s unity and love.  We will honor and embrace that sacrifice.

When I went to put water into the tree stand after we had set it up, one of the grandchildren asked me if the tree was going to keep growing.  I told him, no, it would begin to dry out and it would die within a few weeks.  He was sad about that and thought maybe we shouldn’t have cut it down.  I had to scramble to explain to him the understanding I had come to about life and death and this humble tree, in a way that he could understand.  I also wanted to find a way that we could honor the tree’s life, one that would be meaningful to the children.

What we came up with was that after Christmas, when we take down all the decorations, we will carry our tree to our bonfire spot and have a grand smudging ceremony!  Cedar is a traditional sacred smudging herb, and this seems a fitting end for our lovely tree.  We will thank our tree for being part of our family celebrations and for making our holiday so special.  Then we will burn the tree and watch it’s spirit rise up to return to the Great Spirit, carrying our prayers with it.  The children think this is a great idea and they are excited.

I used to feel so sad when, the week after Christmas, I would drive through my city and see all the dead and discarded Christmas trees lying on the curbs up and down the streets, with stray pieces of tinsel still clinging in odd places, just waiting for the garbage trucks.  The holiday was over and now they were just thrown out like nothing special, the people moving unceremoniously on to the next thing.  I am very glad to have found a way to make the death of our Christmas tree just as meaningful and special as all the rest of our celebrations.

Bringing an evergreen tree into the house to decorate and celebrate around is but one of the many ways to mark the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, with the days growing longer and longer thereafter.  Many religious mythologies symbolize this phenomena of “light triumphing over darkness.” Whether you celebrate the return of the sun to longer days, or the coming of the Son, or something else entirely, may you all find special meaning for this holiday season.

• Earth Spirituality , Wild Crafting , Wise Woman Wisdom
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