the Witchen Kitchen Beginner Herbal

tammy October 5th, 2008

When I get sick, my first thoughts usually turn to, how can I make this GO AWAY!! NOW!!  But I’m learning through experience that this approach is not always the best way.  It seems the more I push at an illness, the more it pushes back, and the longer I have to deal with it.

If you remember from a previous post how sick I was recently, and how well Butterfly Weed helped me, you may be surprised to learn that I got another virus just as that never-ending one cleared up.  I went to the doctor to rule out a more serious infection like pnuemonia and such.  Clear mucous, no fever… probably just another opportunistic cold virus catching hold while my immune system was still weak and vulnerable — from my recent illness and also from racing through life at a frantic pace without enough rest or self care! 

With that original illness, I had thrown everything herbal at it that I could think of.  Lots of tincture taking and impatience as the symptoms hung on and on.  Even the more nourishing remedies, such as hot bone broth soup, were administered with a forceful attitude.  I was wanting to get back to my busy life at full speed, but I felt like shit.  My thoughts were, what can I take that will zap this thing out of me and let me get on with it????

Susan Weed teaches a lot about “problems as allies.” The idea is that when an illness shows up, your body is trying to speak, to get your attention.  It’s not an enemy to be thwarted, but an ally that can help you move toward greater wholeness and health.  What was my body saying to me?  When I became sick again so soon after just starting to get well, I decided to stop “fighting off illness” and embrace it so I could pay more careful attention to my body’s voice.  It was saying that I needed sleep.  I needed comfort and warmth.  I needed nourishment.  I needed some TLC and gentleness.

So…

I took a couple days off from massage school and a day off from work.  Through those days and into the weekend, I slept a lot more than I had in months.

After waking up from a nice long sleep on one of the days, feeling pretty relaxed, but cold and congested, I went to my herb cupboard and picked out herb for a hot steam.  Calendula flowers, yes, that’s what I wanted. Some may think of the more aromatic herbs as the most appropriate here, but for some reason, I just wanted the calendula.  I boiled some water and poured it over the dried flowers into a bowl and then covered my head with a towel to breath in the warm steam, letting in cool air as needed.  Pure bliss, deeply penetrating warmth and comfort for my lungs and sinuses.  When the water had cooled enough, I took some of the warm moist flowers and laid them over my eyes and sinuses, absorbing their healing energy.

My lungs were still feeling weak after these many weeks, still hanging on to a lingering, nagging cough.  My glands and lymph were still swollen a bit.  I went back to my herb cupboard a little later for infusion ingredients – to soothe my symptoms, not force them well, just soothe them.  And I FOUND SOME MULLIEN!!  I had thought I was out, but there it was, this wonderful lung tonic.  Into the infusion jar went a small handful.  Mellow oatstraw was calling to me also, so a handful of that next.  Hmmm… dried elderberries… I briefly wondered if they would be good as infusion (I’d only been taking it as tincture so far).  I thought yes, so a few of those added to the jar, too.  Finally, some more of the yellow calendula petals (just petals, not the whole flower head; just what my body seemed to want).  Pour boiling water over, cap, and leave for a few hours.  Strain and drink.  The taste is smooth, mellow, slightly fruity, divine.  Everything elderberry is supposed to do for a cold or flu seemed magnified ten times over compared to the tincture. The the taste of mullien is like something I’ve been craving for a long time. The infusion soothes my cough.  It relaxes and nourishes me deeply. I make this brew again the next day and the next and the next.

Chicken soup several days in a row, made with bone broth, lots of sage and thyme and pepper and salt.  The warmth down my throat, the herbs, the minerals, all work together to start weaving back together my frayed system.

Several hot baths with bundles of herbs thrown in.  Red clover blossoms and, once again, sunny calendula.  Bone penetrating warmth, just as I needed.

By Monday, I felt rested and relaxed and just about back to my old self.  My lungs felt healthy and strong, all my upper respiratory passages felt moist and at ease.  An interesting side note – the tennis elbow I’ve had for months now STOPPED HURTING ALSO!  Somehow through this process, that elbow got what it needed, too, so it stopped yelling at me.

This experience was two weeks ago.  I’ve been mostly well since then, but everytime I start to over do it, scrimp on sleep, or fail to nourish myself properly with fluids and good food, that little tickling cough starts to creep back, and I understand the message immediately.

Notice all the water-based, warm, nourishing herbal remedies I instinctively reached for when the focus became listening and nurturing, instead of squashing and conquering.  This is kitchen medicine at its best.  A great lesson this whole experience has been for me in the art of Healing Wise, one of many I’ve been blessed with recently.  

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tammy September 16th, 2008

I’ve been working with Dandelion Oil since this past Spring. As I get to know it better, I’m starting to get a better sense of how it works, both emotionally and physically.

On an emotional level, it is sunny and happy and laid back, relaxed and stress free.  I always feel more joy after working with this oil.  After many uses and careful observation, now I’m finding that its physical effect on the body may work along a similar vibration.

From the very first times I used my Dandy oil, I noticed that the amazing muscle pain relieving properties worked best when the oil was lightly massaged into the affected area. If massaged in deeply, it didn’t do much at all for me, and sometimes my muscles even felt more achy after a good rub (though I always felt more relaxed overall, especially emotionally). I’ve concluded that dandelion flower oil seems to work its best magic through a light, relaxed touch.

As I’ve been studying the art of massage therapy and learning more about anatomy, I’m starting to believe that the oil primarily works to relax the fascia that surrounds the muscles as well as other connective tissue like tendons, but it does not work on the muscle tissue itself.

So far, it has worked best for me to relieve muscle pain when lightly rubbed into areas rich in connective tissue and muscle attachments, such as the hip bone and down the outside of the leg, or in the lower back around the spine and sacrum.  It’s also nice in the neck and shoulder area when applied lightly, but a few times I’ve rub it in too deeply and aggravated the tension.  Again, a light touch works best.

I haven’t yet been able to find any other herbalists who have similar observations about this oil, but I would love to hear other opinions and experiences along these lines.

I’ll continue to experiment also with my massage clients, as they are willing.  My mother is getting a massage this weekend and has given me full permission to use her as a guinea pig!  Thanks Mom!

The post on Poke medicine is coming soon.  I didn’t get to work with it this past weekend.  Instead we went to the apple orchard. I’ve been peeling and slicing apples for days now!  More about Poke next post…

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tammy August 31st, 2008

I’ve been sick for the past three weeks.  A cold that passed quickly down into my throat, giving me a croupy laryngitis, and then finally settled in my chest… to stay, it seemed.  It hung on and on and on.  The incessant, mostly dry coughing, the headaches and muscle strains from coughing, the tight, painful chest, the hoarse voice.  I was beginning to despair I’d never be well again.

I’d been pushing the fluids and mucilaginous infusions, eating homemade chicken soup, and also using ripe Poke berries* (Phytolacca americana) to stimulate my immune system and Chickweed (Stellaria media) tincture to thin the mucous.  I swallowed a few whole Poke berries each day and took a couple doses of the Chickweed (a dropperful each time).

These would always start to move things along soon after taking, but never really pushed me past that threshold where my body could take over and really heal.  Immediately after a dose of medicine, or a bowl of chicken soup, or a cup or two of infusion, I would get some expectoration and more productive coughing, and the Poke really did wonders for my chronic body aches and pains, but then my chest would just tighten back up again.  The nights and mornings were the worst.  What I was doing obviously wasn’t exactly doing the trick.

I was settled that if it didn’t clear up this weekend I would go and get some Mucinex.  But turns out I didn’t have to do that.  I saw some Butterfly Weed (Asclepias tuberosa), otherwise known as pleurisy root, growing nearby yesterday, so off I went to dig some.

Two cups of root tea last evening, one after dinner and one before bed, seems to have cleared this thing right up!  After drinking a cup, I coughed up some nasty stuff!  And then my chest felt so open and relaxed and I slept so well last night.   I’m almost completely well this morning, with just the tiniest hint of a cough every now and then and almost no chest congestion at all.  I feel a thousand times better than I did yesterday.  I think I’ll drink another cup or two today to finish kicking this thing to the curb!

In researching the Butterfly Weed before I used it, I was interested to learn that in addition to its famed reputation for clearing and dispersing stuck fluids in the chest that it also works to move fluids in the joints and bursa.  This was interesting to me because I’ve also had some tennis elbow and a painful shoulder for the last few months, as well as some pain in the carpals of my right wrist (overuse from mouse clicking all day at my day job!!).  I’d been using Solomon’s Seal and getting some relief, but not really healing.

I’m thinking that maybe the reason I had such trouble getting rid of this chest cold was due to a constitutional problem with dryness as evidenced by the joint problems, among other symptoms.   So, I may continue to work with the Butterfly Weed for a while longer yet to help address the body-wide symptoms of this underlying imbalance of dryness.

Matthew Wood (The Book of Herbal Wisdom) mentions that the flowers of this plant illustrate the way its medicine opens up and disperses fluids in the lungs.  I also noticed that the plant itself is overall very dry.  You can crush its leaves, break open its stem, cut up its roots, and get almost no moisture from them.  The flowers are have the most moisture of the entire plant. To me this is an illustration of its ability to work from an overall dry condition to produce its beautiful orange star burst of dispersed fluids.

This whole experience has really taught me a lot about how to use herbs to treat problems from a constitutional perspective.  Looking at all the seemingly unrelated symptoms as an overall pattern, the dots really begin to connect.  I’ve read and read about how other herbalists do this, but getting this direct body experience is priceless in my learning process.

*The seeds of Poke berries are toxic, but only if they are broken open.  If you swallow the berries whole, the seeds will pass through your body intact and harmless.  They are very hard and it is unlikely you would be able to break them open anyway, but just in case, never chew Poke berries!  The entire Poke plant has a lot of wonderful uses, but it is a very powerful plant overall and can be toxic if not used properly.  It is always taken in very small doses. Be sure to do your research and consult experienced herbalists if you choose to work with this plant.

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tammy June 14th, 2008

If you suffer from insomnia, this common weed could be your best friend. It can provide deep relaxation and a delicious, gritty-eyed, cuddly sleepiness when you are wound up and your mind is racing and you find that you can’t get to sleep or stay asleep for long.

Last month I started a bunch of new things in my life. I changed my work schedule, started massage school, began doing some computer consulting work on the side… there were a lot of new things to absorb and a lot to juggle. I was quite wound up and often had trouble getting to sleep, and when I did, I slept lightly and woke just a few hours later to begin tossing and turning for the rest of the night.

Just when I was getting desperate, I found the prickly lettuce (Lactuca scariola) growing tall and strong right at the edge of the yard. To make sure I had the correct plant ID, I felt the row of prickles along the bottom mid-vein of its leaves, and then plucked off one to see the yellowy sap oozing out. Sap will ooze out of any part of the plant that you break off.  I ate about half a leaf, tasting its sweet, slightly bitter, flavor. The young leaves are often used in salads, though the older leaves can get much too bitter for eating.

After eating the leaf, I began gathering what I needed to make a quart of tincture. I felt super relaxed as I walked around the edge of the yard snipping the stalks. Not drugged at all, just calm and relaxed. I also began to feel pleasantly tired and sleepy. I hadn’t felt that in sooooo very long. Delicious.

After I chopped up my harvest and put it in a labeded jar with 100 proof vodka, it was time to get ready for bed. I went through my usual bedtime routine, tidying up, washing up, laying out clothes for the next day, etc, all the while feeling very calm, very relaxed, and knowing that I would have no problem falling asleep that night. I crawled into bed, went right to sleep, and slept soundly the entire night — the first time in over a month!

I have purchased wild lettuce tincture in the past and knew it could help me sleep, but that’s really all I knew about it. Last week I got my hot little hands on Matthew Wood’s new The Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants and have now learned a few more things about this plant.

According to the profile in Wood’s book, I can see why it works so well for me. “It is indicated for stiff sore persons with painful muscles, especially the lower back. The pulse is slow and hard… [which] indicates ‘cold blockage’ or ‘internal cold’… Sometimes there is slight evidence of the heat that is being blocked… it produces red margins of the eyelids, allergies, and facial acne.” (p. 307, 308)

I had been very, very cold this past winter, and very, very stiff and sore, especially in my lower back. After reading this I looked in the mirror and sure enough there were red margins around my eyelids also.

He goes on to write that Lactuca also addresses hormonal imbalances caused by excess of androgen — think teenage acne as a common manifestation of this. It has also been used to cure “dropsy” (water retention, edema). Acne and edema — two more conditions that I have dealt with in the past.  Seems I have a lot of affinity for this herb.

However, even if you don’t fit the profile completely, I think it would be beneficial to almost anyone who needs a little help relaxing and sleeping. It is very gentle and effective for that purpose, and unlike most pharmaceuticals on the market for that purpose, it is non-addictive.  I plan to make it a permanent part of my herbal medicine chest.

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tammy January 23rd, 2008

Clearing up tough skin conditions is one of burdock root’s many specialties, but as I recently discovered, it is also very good at stabilizing blood sugars. As I was taking burdock root tincture recently as part of a regimen to address a mysterious case of eczema, I got the unexpected benefit of glucose/insulin stabilization with this deeply healing root.

While I was taking the burdock, I noticed after a while that some skin tags that I had on the back of my neck began to spontaneously crust over and drop off. Hmmm…. I wondered what was going on, but I wasn’t complaining. I hate those things and was glad to see them going. Then soon after this, someone whose herbal wisdom I highly respect and who has done extensive research on the topic of insulin resistance (Paul Bergner), mentioned in an online herbal forum that skin tags may be a specific indication of insulin resistance. Soon after that, I read that burdock is often used to regulate blood sugars. Now it was coming together!

In case you don’t know, insulin resistance is often one of the first indications of an imbalance in blood sugar levels and often leads to the onset of type II diabetes. As far as I understand it, insulin resistance occurs when the body repeatedly makes excessive amounts of insulin in order to deal with frequent spikes in blood sugars. Frequent spikes in blood sugars occur with diets too high in certain carbohydrates (especially refined carbs like cane sugar and white bread). Over time the cells become resistant to the excessive insulin and its action of transporting glucose from the blood into the cells. As more glucose remains in the bloodstream, more insulin is made to try to force it into the cells, which equals more resistance over time, and more insulin production, and more resistance, etc… a very vicious cycle that eventually could result in diabetes or other serious health complications if it is allowed to continue. With diabetes, the insulin production system becomes exhausted from all the sugar spikes it has dealt with over the years and is finally no longer able to keep up, leaving blood glucose levels chronically high. There is more to the pathology than I am able to explain adequately here, but these are the broad strokes of the disease process.

I am not currently a diabetic, nor a hypoglycemic, but I do have skin tags. If this is in fact a specific indicator for insulin resistance, as I believe it is, then this says to me that I need to take some steps NOW to reverse the process. The possibility of developing diabetes in the future is nothing to play around with. Diabetes can be a very ugly and devastating disease as it progresses.

The good news is that in most cases insulin resistance is completely reversible with close attention to the diet and regular, gentle exercise. In some cases, even type II diabetes can be reversed in the same way, or at least managed so the impact is less severe. There are many herbal helpers and painless ways to change the diet, both of which are easy to implement and can make a huge impact. Below I’ve listed some simple and safe wise women ways that can help control blood sugar spikes and thus insulin resistance. But please also consult your health care provider if you have blood sugar/ insulin problems. This is really nothing to play around with.

Consume Burdock Root. Burdock is a deeply healing root. It heals from the inside out, digging deep all the way to your core. It can be consumed like food, as often as you like. Asian markets and some health food stores sell them under the name “gobo”. You can also dig your own; it is a very common weed in most places. It can be used like potatoes in soup, or cut up like carrots in stir fry. It can also be taken as a medicinal infusion or tincture. Burdock has been recognized by many herbalists as effective in controlling blood sugars, and there has been some scientific research that suggests the same thing. It is thought that the inulin in the starch of the root is the active ingredient that controls the blood sugars.

Add cinnamon to your food whenever you can. Studies show that cinnamon is effective at reversing insulin resistance in the cells. It can also dramatically reduce blood glucose levels in the diabetic, so check with your health care provider if you are on medication for diabetes, as using cinnamon could change your dosage. Sprinkle it on your toast (whole grain of course), put it in your tea, make your own cinnamon capsules and take them before a meal. Use your imagination!

Add vinegar to your food whenever you can. My grandmother often talks about how when she was young and she wanted to lose weight, she would drink vinegar. This provoked a yuck! response from me whenever I heard her say it. But studies show that this is effective at preventing blood sugar & insulin spikes when consumed before a meal (2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar is recommended), so I can see how it could also help in weight loss. Having a salad? Use a vinaigrette dressing and eat it at the beginning of your meal. Having collards or kale or spinach? Splash a bit of vinegar over them. This will help your blood sugars and release the minerals in the greens to make them more bioavailable to your body. Eat pickles. Take a bit of vinegar in a glass of water as a pre-meal drink. Be creative!

Eat more non starchy vegetables, and incorporate more nourishing herbs. These increase your vitamins and overall nutrition so you don’t crave the unhealthy stuff as much. I talked about using herbs as a vitamin supplement here, if you are interested in my thoughts on this.

Eliminate refined carbohydrates & reduce unrefined carbohydrates. Refined carbohydrates comprise most of what you find on grocery store shelves these days. Pastas, white breads, cookies, noodles, crackers, chips, pizza rolls, white flour, juices, sugar, syrups, sodas… the list is endless. Unrefined carbohydrates, on the other hand, are as close to the whole form in which nature created them as possible. They are for the most part whole grains and starchy fruits and vegetables, such as oatmeal, corn, carrots, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, most whole fruits. Some natural sweeteners are also unrefined carbs, such as unprocessed honey. Refined carbohydrates usually come packaged up with lots of other ingredients on the label. Unrefined carbohydrates have no ingredients; they just are themselves. Both of these categories of carbs can raise glucose levels faster than protein/fats and non starchy vegetables, but the refined carbs will send your glucose soaring up much, much faster than the unrefined ones. In contrast, the whole food synergy of the unrefined carbs slows glucose conversion somewhat. A certain amount of unrefined carbohydrates is needed in the diet, however, you need NONE of the refined junk.

Always pair unrefined carbohydrates with protein/fat. Protein/fat (usually they come together in natural whole foods) tends to slow the carbohydrates converting to glucose, and prevents sudden spikes in blood sugar. Eat some protein with every meal or snack, as almost every meal contains some carbs. Meat, fish, cheese, yogurt, nuts, beans, eggs, some soy products, all are good choices. (I try to stay away from processed meats and unfermented soy; I don’t think they are good for you). Also make sure you eat high quality fats like real butter, olive oil, coconut oil, fish oil; stay away from seed oils and fake butter — they are usually rancid and full of harmful chemicals.

Try to eat your unrefined carbohydrates toward the end of your meal. Eat the protein/fat and non-starchy vegetables first to further reduce the impact of the carbs on blood sugars. Having a salad, baked potato, and steak? Eat the salad first (with its viniagrette dressing!), the steak, and finally the potato. Actually, make that a sweet potato (more nutrient dense then white potatoes) with some of that wonderful cinnamon sprinkled on top!

Remember that carbohydrates, especially refined, tend to be addictive because of the glucose/insulin spikes they cause. Insulin is also known as the hunger hormone, for good reason. Being addicted to carbs can cause overwhelming hunger that undermines the best of intentions with your diet. It will make you want to eat and eat and eat the carbs, but yet never feel satisfied. I know from first hand experience.

I’ve been taking my own dietary advice, as described above, and was doing quite well until about a week ago. A few days of not planning well for meals, eating bread or potatoes that I didn’t need because that was what was there, and the next thing I know I’m rationalizing extra servings of carbs at every meal, craving them between meals, and eating more and more of them. My hunger was suddenly out of control again, along with my insulin/glucose balance.

The only way out of this viscious cycle is to go back to step one and begin again. Reduce the carbs and eat more protein. Use the herbal helpers, along with the other suggestions listed above. As you successfully cut back the carbs and use the helpers to reduce the hormonal spikes they can cause, you’ll find your craving for them steadily decreasing. When the cravings are under control, it is a very good sign that your insulin and sugars are balanced and stable. You may also find that you begin to lose weight naturally. These are all good indicators that you are headed in the right direction for optimal health!

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tammy August 7th, 2007

I am generally a very happy and passionate person, but every year, sometime around January or February and then again around August or September, I find myself generally discontented, angry about life circumstances, lethargic, and just bitching and moaning about everything. I start thinking my life is crap and I have fantasies of escaping to some more ideal existence. I start thinking about quitting my job, or getting a divorce, putting the kids up for adoption (kidding! … mostly…), or making some other drastic change in my life.

But instead of taking positive action on anything, I typically will have just enough energy to merely whine and complain and blame my misery on other people (if only they did this or that, then I would be happy…). If left to its natural course, this mood will quickly devolve to a state of helplessness and despondency over the things I cannot change. It usually takes a week or two in this state of mind for me to realize that I have the blues, but once I do, I have a wonderful herbal ally that helps me regain my perspective and start to feel really good again.

St. John’s Wort (or St. Joan’s Wort, as my feminist friends refer to it) is truly amazing in the way it lifts my mood and fills my heart with joy. I first realized the effects when I was using it as a muscle relaxer. I have occasional fybromyalgia-like symptoms, and St. J’s helps tremendously with the aches and pains. While taking it for that problem one winter I noticed I was also feeling more hopeful and positive than usual. In fact when I stopped to really think about it, I was feeling bubbly and joyful, truly effervescent! What a wonderful side effect!

After that, I started to look into the anti-depressant qualities of St. J’s and began to use it more intentionally for my seasonal affective disorder. Thus far I have not been disappointed in the wonderful help it has given me. It is truly a magical gift from the Creator!

Most scientific studies of St. John’s Wort are focused on studying how different dosages affect brain chemistry and depression symptoms as compared to standardly prescribed drugs. Several studies have shown that certain dosages of St. J’s can be just as effective in treating depression as some of the anti-depressant drugs, with many fewer negative side effects.*

Scientists still do not know exactly how this plant works its magic. They seek to figure it out by the usual methods of division and isolation of active ingredients. So far, no theory that any one part is responsible for its anti-depressant effects has proven true. It was once theorized that a single active ingredient of the plant, hyperforin, was responsible for its anti-depressant effect, until it was later shown that a preparation containing NO hyperforin also had significant anti-depressant effects. It currently appears to be a whole plant synergy that causes the desired effect instead of a single part. Because of this, no one has yet been able to turn this wonderful herbal remedy into a drug. Hurray!

(Drug = an isolated active ingredient of a plant, separated from the synergy of the whole, often dangerous to use and having significant side effects. Example: The coca plant is used regularly for an afternoon pick-me-up with no ill effects by natives of South America. An extract of the active ingredient of the coca plant, cocaine, is an addictive drug that ruins millions of lives world-wide)

These studies point to a fact that scientists often have trouble grasping, but that wise women have always known: The whole is greater than the sum of its parts!

Dosages

Individual dosage will vary. Each batch of St. J’s can be different, chemically speaking. But since no one can say which particular chemical profile is better than another it is hard to make a recommendation for any sort of standardized dosage. Studies which showed a clinical effect similar to anti-depressant drugs used preparations with a minimum amount of certain active ingredients.

I personally use about 2 dropper fulls of tincture, 1 to 3 times per day. I do not have a regular schedule for when I will take it and how often. I let my intuition guide me. I have taken standardized extracts, as well as my own homemade tincture, which has no standardization whatsoever. The results from each of these have been exactly the same for me. So, if you are more scientifically minded, go with a standardized extract and regulate your dosages according to the latest research. If you are more intuitively inclined, use your own judgment.

How to make your own tincture

Gather the fresh flowering tops of St. Johns Wort, found in sunny meadows beginning late June/ early July. Fill a jar with the flowers and pour 100 proof vodka over them. Seal the jar and let sit for 6 weeks or more, shaking it occasionally.  Then strain the liquid out and discard the herb (give it back to Mother Earth by sprinkling it in your garden or yard!)  Using fresh herb like this is the best way to make a potent medicine of your own.

I, however, have not yet been able to find wild St. Johns Wort growing near where I live, so I have made mine with dried herb purchased from the health food store. I can tell from the color of my tincture that it is not as strong as ones made with fresh (which I have purchased from Red Moon Herbs).

Again, no matter which preparation I have used, from fresh or dried, or standardized or not, I have gotten exactly the same results with regard to mood enhancement. I think I probably end up using a little more of my homemade tincture than I do of the other preparations, which may account for the similar results.

St. John’s Wort is a gentle nourisher of the nervous system and is gentle enough to experiment a little with. See what works best for you!

*Many wise women have made the observation that virtually all of the known negative side effects have been produced when the dried herb in capsule form was used. Negative side effects are not reported when the herb is taken as a tincture.

Disclaimer: Only once in my life did I have a serious problem with depression, and that bout lasted for a couple of years. For me, the experience was a deep, dark night of the soul which ended through a spiritual renewal and awakening. I didn’t know about herbs then, and so I cannot share any insight on using them in overcoming such cases of deep depression. If you are here seeking herbal remedies for a deep depression, please know that there are others much more knowlegable than me on this topic. This article only addresses my personal experience with treating a milder form of seasonal depression, “the blues,” sometimes referred to as S.A.D. (seasonal affective disorder). If your depression is more serious than this, I urge you to seek advice from a competent professional. 

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tammy May 24th, 2007

I woke up with swollen tonsils, icky white stuff all over them, swollen glands in my neck so sore I couldn’t turn my head.  Oh no! I thought, I’ve caught the strep throat that’s been going around in my family.

I first started treating it with echinacea, a powerful antibiotic substitute.  I took several doses of the tincture through out that day and the next.  By the next day, my neck was less sore and the swelling was going down.  I should have kept up the echinacea a while longer, but I ran out, so I took a chance that my body could do the rest of the healing on its own.
Wrong!  Two days later, my tonsils and glands were swelling again.  I quickly went out and bought some more echinacea and started taking it again.  This time it didn’t help.  It just gave me a headache each time I took it, but did nothing for my sore throat.

That very day someone emailed me a recipe for honeysuckle sore throat syrup, supposedly a wonder remedy for sore throats.  It just so happened that my honeysuckle was blooming profusely that week, so I gave it a shot.  I gathered the herb I needed by grabbing a vine and pulling my fingers along it, stripping the leaves and blossoms as I went the length of it.  When I had 2 cups worth, I used the recipe below to make my remedy.

I took a cupful to start with, then small amounts every couple of hours for the rest of that day and the next.  By the end of the second day my illness was gone!  Just gone.  No more sore glands, no more swollen tonsils, no icky white stuff, no pain on swallowing.  Gone.
I could feel it working as soon as I would take a dose.  I just felt this energy in my throat tissues, like they were waking up as the syrup made contact going down the hatch.  Then a few minutes after a dose, I would get very sleepy and have to go lay down.  It was obviously kick starting something, and my body was working hard to get itself well.

I will definitely be making up another big batch to freeze for the winter!  Here is the recipe.

Honeysuckle sore throat syrup

2 cups honeysuckle fresh edible flowers and leaves
1 quart water
1 cup honey

Gather two cups of leaves and flowers from wild Honeysuckle vines(make sure they haven’t been sprayed). If you can’t get the flowers, leave them out of the recipe.
Bring 1 quart of water to a boil and add the two cups of honeysuckle leaves. Gently simmer for 10 minutes and strain. Add 1 cup of honey and stir well to dissolve. Store in fridge up to a month or freeze in small batches and take out what you need at one time.

Dosage: 1 oz every two hours for 5 yr. olds and up to adult.

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tammy January 31st, 2007

I’ve had a terrible cold/flu this month.  I like to call it the creeping crud!!  It started in my nose blocking my sinuses so I couldn’t breathe, crept down to my throat making my tonsils swell and my voice hoarse, then back up again to infect my sinuses again.  Now I’ve got sinus pain and post nasal drip that is making me cough incessantly. I never really got serious about treating it herbally, always thinking that it wasn’t going to be bad and that it would be gone in a day or two.  Boy, I really wish I had zapped it at the beginning!

At this late stage, I decided to make some elder berry syrup to sooth my cough and give myself an herb that purportedly fights off the flu.  It is a relatively quick remedy to prepare, and it might help.

I found several recipes (a couple listed at the bottom of this post), and I used the simplest one.  (Hey, the way I feel I don’t feel like doing much here!).  All the recipes called for fresh berries, but I only had dry, so that’s what I used.  I poured about 2 cups of dried berries in a pan, covered them with water (actually a little more than covered, I wanted to add extra water since they were dry to account for the extra liquid they would absorb). Then I simmered them for over an hour on low heat, strained out the red liquid that resulted, and then mixed the liquid 1/2 and 1/2 with honey.

I took a couple of spoonfuls right away to sample it.  It tastes delicious!!  But my favorite way to enjoy it is to pour a little of the syrup into a cup with some boiling water and drink it as a hot tea.  It is very soothing to my sore throat and calms my cough. As I said, it tastes really good, too.  Very gentle.  I did feel immediately better every time I drank a cup, but this is one nasty flu, so repeats were needed frequently.

Overall, I think it would have been better if I had soaked the dry berries for a while, until they plumped up more, before starting to simmer them. I think my brew was a little weak for not doing that.  Next time I will definitely make it stronger.

Elder berry syrup recipes

You can pick berries fresh off the bush if you have any and they are in season.  Otherwise, you can order dried berries from www.mountainroseherbs.com. 

Dried berries should be soaked in water until they plump up before cooking.  The finished syrup should be kept in the refrigerator and will last about a month.  Take one or two spoonfuls as needed, or use 1/4 cup with boiling water to make hot tea.

Recipe #1

Place elder berries in a saucepan and cover with water.  Simmer on low heat for 1 hour or more until liquid is reduced by 1/2.  Strain and mix in an equal amount of honey (raw honey, if possible).

Recipe #2

Use 1/2 quart dry elderberries and 1 quart raw honey. Place berries in jar and cover with honey.  Cap and let sit in a sunny window for 4-6 weeks, turning occasionally.

Recipe #3

Use 1 cup elder berries, 2 cups sugar, 1 cup water.  Place all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to boil.  Turn down heat and simmer until it is reduced by 1/2. Cool strain and bottle.

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tammy July 5th, 2006

I have been drinking Red Clover infusions occasionally since last winter.  Recently, I’ve been very bad about making the infusions ahead of time, so I’ve been making teas instead.  I find the teas are beneficial to my sense of well being, too, though maybe not as potent as the infusions.

This past weekend I had occassion to use a Red Clover poultice.  I have read that Red Clover has TONS of anti-cancer properties and that it will dissolve growths, etc, especially in breast tissue.  Well, I had this growth just under my left breast that came up sometime last winter.  It looked like it started off as a skin tag or a mole, but then it was inverted so it was growing under the skin instead of above it.  It had two little “heads” that looked like black heads, but you could not squeeze anything out.  I’ve just been ignoring it for months, but then a couple of weeks ago it got a bit inflamed, very painful and a little itchy.  After some reading I did last weekend and learning of Red Clovers “growth” dissolving properties, I decided to try it on my own little problem growth.

First, I made myself a tea of Red Clover and dried flower blossoms in a cup with boiling water poured over.  I let it cool just a little, and when it was cool enough to stick my fingers in, but still hot enough for me not to want to leave them in there for too long(!), I scooped some of the flowers out and put them in a muslin tea bag and applied the poultice to the growth.  I left it there all evening, sipping my tea and doing other things.  My breasts are very heavy, so they held the poultice in place just fine.

When I removed the poultice, my skin was a little red (probably from the VERY hot flowers I had applied) but the growth looked unchanged.  Oh, but by the next morning that growth had started to dissolve!  It was no longer inflamed, was much smaller and I couldn’t even see the little black head.  I put more poultices on that day and the next, until I ran out of Red Clover.  I have a little scar of darkened skin there now (just three days after the first poultice), but the growth is just about completely gone!  Just imagine what Red Clover taken internally will do for any growths I might not know about yet.  I am highly impressed with this herb!

Buy dried Red Clover blossoms at www.mountainroseherbs.com!

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tammy April 6th, 2006

I made an emergency batch of garlic honey when I had the flu last week. I improvised a bit. I was supposed to fill a jar full of garlic cloves and then full of honey and let it sit for 12 hours or so. I didn’t have an appropriately sized jar, and I only had about 5 or 6 garlic cloves on hand. I was in the midst of the flu and wanted to make some right away. I had a glass beer bottle that I had saved, so I popped my 5 or 6 garlic cloves down into it and then poured enough honey over them to cover them. They filled about 1/6 of the bottle. I wrapped plastic wrap securely over the opening and set it on the shelf to “brew”.

I read in Susun Weed’s materials that the garlic and honey were supposed to liquify over night. My garlic did not liquify, but the honey did become a little runnier.

I took a spoonful of it, and it tasted so good I started thinking that maybe I wanted to eat one of the garlic cloves! I tried to do this, thinking that surely the garlic would be good for me in fighting off this flu, but when I bit into the clove it was very strong and burned my tongue and I ended up spitting it out. I did get some of the juice of the clove, though, and I tasted it all night. My poor husband was careful to stay way on his side of the bed!

I took it several more times, and I think it did help. Just the honey on my sore vocal cords was heaven, and I think the garlic also did some work on my immune system to help me heal faster. I will definitely make some more of this, but next time I will use the right kind of jar and fill it to the top.

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