The Medicine Woman's Roots

Yesterday while planting my newest influx of native trees and shrubs, I noticed the season’s first blooming Corydalis, the Canyon’s usual second Spring flower who usually arrives just before or on the Spring Equinox. This sweet little relative of the West Coast’s Bleeding Hearts has many similar uses for chronic pain, tremors, various neuralgias combined with a nice alterative effect that helps to shift the body’s state while relieving severe pain. Also known as Golden Smoke, this fern leaved native will flower throughout the Spring in the Gila, and the green leafy bits persist until Autumn. It prefers shady, moist spots in mixed woods not too far from the river. I gather the whole plant, gold roots and all for tincture, tea and oil. Although effective on its own, I tend to use it in formulas to focus and strengthen its action. I recently used it for a tweaked neck with nerve pain by blending it with a little Vervain for a very effective medicine that relieved the condition overnight. I also use it in most of my chronic pain formulas, and find it useful for certain kinds of insomnia, especially that indicated by what I call “brain jangles”, endless internal mental noise and a certain sense of being spread too thin to really inhabit the physical body. It really helps to relax the mind and eliminate unimportant inner trivia when it’s impeding upon relaxation or sleep. This herb can be overtly sedative for some, so be cautious and observant when taking it.

Another lovely medicine I tend to gather in early Spring is Usnea, a light green lichen that dangles from conifer branches and downed tree bark. The huge winds this time of year tends to knock lots of it to the forest floor, where I happily gather it on walks and herbal explorations. Usnea is generally used as heat clearing antibacterial, especially for the urinary tract and resp. system, although it seems effective throughout the body in my experience. I also use it for external “hot” infections as a powder or salve. Internally, I tend to use a strong tincture since it is nearly completely insoluble in water. My favored preparation just now is a 70% tincture made with finely chopped Usnea. Some people cook their tincture with plant in it to aid in extraction and others even put the boot of macerating tincture through the dishwasher, but I just do the normal thing with mine and let it sit for six weeks. Seems to work fine for infections and immune stimulation so far, though someday I hope to experiment with the hot extraction process. Keep in mind that Usnea is fairly cold energetically, and so should be used in hot, inflamed conditions NOT in cold, boggy, long term conditions. For really hot acute stuff I like to combine it with Wild Honeysuckle flower/bud, Elder flower and a bit of Ginger to disperse better through the body.

Our Cottonwood buds are a bit late this year for some reason, but I assume they’ll be along shortly since the Alders and Willows are certainly up and going. Although I gather the bark from Autumn to Spring, the resinous buds are only available for a short time come early Spring, so care must be taken to notice when they’re ready for harvest. Ideally, this is when the buds are full but not quite popping, and a drop of resin is clearly visible at the end of each bud. The plant is a must in almost any salve I make, its disinfectant qualities and pain relieving power is amazing and easy to utilize. I often make a liniment with rubbing alcohol and fresh bark and find this to be a wonderfully penetrating rub for sore joints and achy muscles. I tend to use the liniment in cases where the pain or inflammation is deep and can’t easily be reached by the more pleasant smelling oil. I use the oil for wounds, burns, abrasions and muscles closer to the surface. The oil can be made with bark or buds, but I usually made it with twig and bud for the resin’s added antiseptic power and lovely aroma. And of course both bud and bark have many internal uses as well. I recently wrote more about in a longer post on Cottonwood, and Darcey just wrote a post including many Cottonwood tidbits as well. This very valuable medicine is available throughout much of N. America, just look for a Populus species near you! All of the species with sticky buds are worth infusing into oil and I think that ANY species, resinous or not, is valuable for it’s pain relieving and other properties. As a bitter tonic for the digestion, it has qualities similar to both Aspen (another Populus sp. that is more often utilized than the Cottonwoods in mainstream medicine) and even Willow.

I also noticed yesterday, the the Honeysuckles have their first leaves and that the Wax Currants have flower buds! Ok, back to planting Hawthorns, Elders, Saskatoons and other berry bushes for now.

Here is the latest exciting installment in Wolf’s ongoing Medicine Woman series of illustrations. These will eventually grace my forthcoming herbal (along with many of his beautiful photographs), and may also eventually become a part of a series of children’s herbal books.

For now, we are offering limited edition color prints of this, the previous Medicine Woman piece and a few others. Contact me for details and we’ll have more information and samples online soon. And for those who don’t know, Wolf also does custom business logos (see the beautiful logo at Darcey’s Blue Turtle Botanicals for a sample). He offers a special reduced rate for herbalists, healers and plant people in support of the amazing work they do. He also accepts some barter as well. A newer offering are his plant portraits, done full size in either black and white or color depending on your needs, he can do series or singles of any plant. This can be useful for books, flyers, websites, business cards or as inspiring artwork in your healing or teaching space.

~*~With many thanks to Wolf for his beautiful work, his support of the herbal community and his huge help with both my personal and professional work.~*~

 Oh! And the latest installment of the excerpts from my Medicine Woman’s Herbal are here too, check it out!

I’ve been wanting a picture of Nettle in seed/flower for the longest time, so Loba painted me this gorgeous watercolor portrait. It’s so lovely I had to share it with you all!

And, at this very moment Wolf is working on yet another illustration for the Medicine Woman Herbal. I’ll be sure to share that too, when it’s done. He’s also decided he wants to do some children’s books with Medicine Woman/herb themes which should prove to be nothing short of amazing.

We’ve been enjoying meals packed full of preserved and fresh greens nearly every day for the last few weeks. We don’t have a freezer or fridge out here so we’ve had to be a bit inventive with our preservations techniques. We also don’t care much for canned greens, and you can only eat so many pickled anythings! So for our lovely lamb’s quarters (also locally known as Quelites, that’s pronounces something like kay-leet-ays for all you Spanish illiterates) we have learned to dry them by the five gallon bucket full. The below notes are taken from Loba’s ongoing kitchen writings and will probably be inserted in the cookbook at some point. Oh, and most people think lamb’s quarters smell REALLY weird during the boiling process, but don’t worry, they don’t taste that way when they’re done.

Processing Lamb’s Quarters

We harvest lamb’s quarters anytime after they’re about a foot tall, up until after they’ve gone to seed, but before the leaves start to dry out noticeably. When the plants are big and tall, we have such an abundance here, one person can harvest a hundred or more pounds of lamb’s quarters in a few hours. To use fresh, just strip the leaves from the stalks, and proceed with the following recipe. To dry for use all year, spread the plants or stripped leaves on trays or a tarp in the shade and turn at least twice a day until they’re brittle. If you strip the leaves after drying, strip the leaves off the biggest stems, and don’t worry about separating out the small stems and seeds. Most of the small stems are tasty even when reconstituted, and the woodier ones can be picked out after cooking. The seeds are good to eat as well, and very nutritious. Store in food grade buckets or glass jars.

To prepare lamb’s quarters:

The flavor of these amazing greens can be a little intense for some. Rinsing the lamb’s quarters after boiling makes a huge difference! I used to have a hard time getting my family excited to eat lamb’s quarters till I tried this little trick. Now everyone will happily devour pots and pots full!

Put 5-6 cups fresh or dried lamb’s quarters in a large pot, cover with water, and bring to a boil. Stir to make sure the leaves are submerged, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes. Pour the contents of the pot into a colander, and pour a few quarts of fresh cool water over the cooked greens, squeezing out the excess water. In a large skillet, saute a large minced onion in 2-3 tablespoons of melted butter or olive oil. When the onion is lightly browned, add the cooked greens, a scant teaspoon of sea salt, and a cup of goat or coconut milk, and a few handfuls of chopped sundried tomatoes, pre-soaked if necessary. Saute the greens in the milk for ten minutes or till they’re done to your liking. Enjoy!

I’ve learned this one from hard experience, over and over again. I’ve more than once picked up a jar of neutral green tincture and discovered it had no label. So I open it and sniff, also neutral green (thank goodness so many plants have distinctive tastes and smells). Uh oh. The next step is tasting, which is great unless you’re not sure whether you have the jar of Plantain or the jar of Datura leaves. Dammit.

Sometimes this has happened because I failed to put a label on the jar, especially in the very beginning when I only had a half a dozen tinctures and could recognize each by the jar they were in. Sometimes the label fell off or got wet or had incomplete information, like the one that said “Skullcap, Fl. Tops, 75% alcohol, 6-30.” Great, June thirtieth of what YEAR, though? Oils have a different kind of problem in that if their labels get oily, say goodbye to all that detailed info you wrote down, and you’re left with a one pint jar of dark green oil that smells like olive oil and some random green plant. Sigh.

Over the years, I’ve slowly corrected the label issue and have come to the conclusion that the more information the better in most cases. I also think more tape is better when fastening the label to the jar, so I always put clear packing tape over every label so that they’re less likely to disappear on me. I also prefer to write down these particular facts on the actual label of the tincture (or oil etc):

Common Name
Latin Name (in cases where I can’t completely key it out, I’ll put Scutellaria spp. or Artemisia spp.)
Date Made – I prefer the exact date, and often the time, but even just the season and year will be helpful later. If it’s a dried plant preparation then also the date of harvest or purchase
Where harvested (if you bought it, just put down what you know, but if you harvested it, be specific, as you might want more someday, or if it doesn’t work out well, you might want to avoid that particular spot).
Weather and Conditions Harvested in – really important for picky, changeable plants like St John’s Wort or certain kinds of Sage. You’ll want to mention if there’s a drought or if it’s an unusually wet year etc. You can avoid writing this over and over if you make up a Master Inventory List (see below).
Percentage of alcohol: No, not the end percentage in the tincture, but percentage you USED. It’s too insane mathematically to bother with the former method. So, if you used Everclear, just put 100% (or 95% if you have a deep need for exactness). If you used brandy, write 40% (probably). And if you made a custom water/alcohol blend, then write down the percentage.
Proportion of plant to menstruum – You know, 1:2 for fresh plants, 1:5 for dried plants (usually). Plant matter by weight, menstruum by volume.
Fresh plant or Dried plant – Usually evident from the proportion, but ~assume nothing~, write it down.

If you’re a plant fanatic (like me), you probably harvest and process lots of plants every year and are slowly filling every available space in your house (and garage and shed and doghouse) with herbs and herbal preparations. No matter how big you think your brain is, you’ll never be able to hold onto all that information (I tried, and failed). So, that’s what you need a Master Inventory List for. Every year or season, depending on the volume of herbs you work with, start a sheet dedicated to the plants you harvest and process. You will want to include:

The weather conditions of that year.
Primary places you harvested from and notes about any unusual happenings in that area.
Plants harvested (which species and what parts)
Any notable changes about the health or amount of each particular stand of plants. It’s especially important to monitor the health of the plants you gather if you’re wildcrafting. If you primarily wildcraft I recommend using a field journal as described in From Earth to Herbalist by Greg Tilford or something similar. I have my own method for that, and I’ll post a sample at a later time.
Appr. how much harvested of each plant.

Then you make a tincture list and oil list and and dried plant list and so on, make sure you write the date and year on every piece of paper in case the records get separated. You write down the amount (2 gallons of Beebalm tincture, 1 quart Elderflower tincture etc), and the location of storage (bedroom closet, 3rd shelf up, on the left). And every time you use some or move it, write it down. This will save you from tearing the entire house apart looking for the last two ounces of Passionflower tincture that you really NEED RIGHT NOW (that you’ve somehow forgotten that you gave to a client three months ago). You also write down any notes on the life span of that preparation or plant so that you can keep an eye on what needs to be used up or checked on.

This kind of written organization will also force you to organize your plants better, and encourage you to move them from the plastic bags they were purchased in, into nice glass jars or similar. Things are much less likely to go bad this way, or get lost. And you’re less likely to lose your mind over that Passionflower tincture. Happiness all around.

Common Name: Monkeyflower

Botanical Name: Mimulus spp.

Energetics: Neutral to Cool, Sl. Moist

Actions: Relaxant nervine, anti-depressant, anti-inflammatory, vulnerary, anodyne

I’ve talked about Monkeyflowers before, and am loving them just as much now. I really wish I’d made more tincture or least dried more of the plant for infusions, seeing how abundant they are especially at higher elevations in this area. Anyhow, I’m still amazed by this plant’s special ability to relieve certain kinds of depression, especially cases typified by paranoia, phobias, oversensitivity and simple fear. There’s a particular feeling of joylessness combined with fear and vulnerability. It’s also a good general mood lifter for mild depression and seasonal affective disorder. I haven’t worked with it extensively enough to discuss its use in more serious cases of depression, but hope to come back to that at some point.

I also really like it for pain, especially nerve pain, with anxiety, irritation and depression. It often takes the pain down a notch or two while relaxing the entire system and making everything just ~feel~ better. It’s certainly a sunshine plant, and can impart feelings of joy, openness, compassion and friendliness. It helps bring the sunshine inside, you might say.

It makes a great poultice and salve too, by the way. I like it with Evening Primrose leaf/flower, Elder flower, Alder leaf and Plantain for a lovely green salve…. it also makes a nice nerve healing balm when combined with St John’s Wort and Sweet Clover.

Monkeyflowers are most common to the American West (particularly in California), but there’s at least one species that can be found throughout the East as well. I have only used our particular species (M. guttatus, also called Seep Monkeyflower or Spotted Monkeyflower, that grows throughout the West and parts of the NE), and can’t really speak to the effectiveness of other varieties, but I do know that M. pilosus has been used effectively by earlier herbalists such as Harvey Felter. If you try it out, do let me know….
Effective Pairs & Triplets for Formulation:

With Lemon Balm for mild or seasonal depression.

With Golden Smoke (Corydalis aurea) and California Poppy for any kind of nerve pain, especially when accompanied by tremors and a anxious, restless gloom.

With Wild Rose for trauma, fear or paranoia, especially in women, children or individuals who feel extremely vulnerable. I keep this particular combo on hand at all times.
With Evening Primrose for stress/emotion triggered asthma, and depression from gastric causes.

With Sweet Clover for sciatica and other neuralgias.

With St John’s Wort as a nervine, mood lifter and gentle liver support. Also a nice combo for nerve damage, sciatica and so on.

With Milky Oats for feelings of anxiousness, crispy critterness, and burnout with symptoms of heat and nervous irritation.

With Vervain for headache, neck tension/pain and moodiness.

With Damiana and Rose (say 3 parts Monkeyflower and 2 parts Rose to one part Damiana) for a non-edgy energy lift and gently warming nerve tonic. You may not get the energy lift if you habitually use caffeine or other stimulants, so you may want to increase the proportion of Damiana in such a case.

The lovely people who came up with Wildcraft (my daughter’s favorite board game) over at learningherbs.com are putting on a free teleseminar with herbal fairy godmother Rosemary Gladstar on March 21st (you do need to sign up for their mailing list to get the details though). They also offer lots of other very cool free herbal resources (like an interview with Susun Weed) and information. John and Kimberly are down home and common sense, just like all the best herbalists, and their work reflects a great passion for sustainable botanical medicine and a healthy fascination with weeds. And really, who doesn’t love Rosemary?

So, it’s getting close to event and workshop season here, and I am frantically looking for new ways of getting the word out to people. Living out in the sticks can make it difficult to network, so we depend on our supporters, students, friends and readers (that would be you) for help. Word of mouth is the single most dependable way to let people know about the work we do here at the sanctuary and what we offer.

So please, pretty please, check out the announcement here, and please, pretty please, forward it to any friends or acquaintances (and maybe a few accomplices) that might be interested! This year we have three different six day long women’s workshops happening here in the canyon, and every single one of them includes copious amounts of medicinal plant teaching time, and endless herbal babbling by yours truly. And, you get the singular pleasure of learning about plants, medicine and primitive skills in a botanical sanctuary in the wilderness.

We’ll have more flyers available soon (would’ve been sooner if the computer hadn’t eaten them…. twice) for volunteers to distribute. And in case you don’t have access to a printer but still want to help post them, just write us and I’ll send you hard copies!

If you’re interested in attending any of our workshops, coming for a retreat, scheduling an internship or even wandering in for a plant walk, do go ahead and write us and let us know. The schedule gets busier later in the year, and we like to plan ahead when we can.

Thank you, thank you!

For the March Blogparty on Nettles hosted by Julie at Crow’s Daughter.

Stinging Nettle’s has a remarkable ability to rebuild and restore. Part of this comes from the fact that it is intensely nutritive, being dense with minerals, vitamins and antioxidants. Nettle’s nourishing properties have been discussed at length by many authors, perhaps most notably (and infamously) by Susun Weed in her excellent book, Healing Wise.

A less explored aspect of this common plant, is its capacity as an adaptogen and adrenal trophorestorative. According to Winston and Kuhn in their book, Herbal Therapy & Supplements, these terms can be defined a:

“Trophorestorative: An herb that nourishes, strengthens, and tonifies a specific organ or function. Considered”food for the organ”. Hawthorn, with its specificity for the heart and circulatory system, is a cardiovascular trophorestorative. Examples: fresh oat (nervous system), nettle seed (kidney).”

and

“Adaptogen: A substance that helps a living organism adapt to stress (environmental, physical, or psychological). “

My personal experiences with Nettle would indicate that both of the above terms suit this remarkable plant very well. Winston and Kuhn specify Nettle seed as a trophorestorative for the kidneys, and I believe they may also serve the same function for the adrenals as well. Dried seed, when taken (chewed well, or ground) orally, promotes a sense of clarity, wellness, heightened energy levels, reduced stress and seemingly increased lung capacity. They are especially effective for those suffering from severe burnout, resulting in profound fatigue, brain fog, chronic pain and alternating feelings of depression and intense anxiety. Nettle seed can lessen all of these symptoms, and sometimes eliminate them completely. For some people, they can dramatically effect or shift perception, promoting a sense of connectedness, well-being and mild euphoria. Physical and mental stamina is usually increased, and exertion may seem more enjoyable to the individual. Several people have reported having their sense of color brightened and expanded, probably due to the mood altering effects.

An overlarge dose may cause a sense of “speediness”, much like other tonic herbs such as Ginseng, so care should be taken that an appropriate dose is used. In sensitive individuals, this may only be a small pinch and can range up to a tablespoon. Others may need to take a teaspoon per day for a week or so to notice significant effects, although results are usually noticed within a few days. I recommend starting with a small dose and working up as needed. These seeds do not seem to promote any kind of dependence, and smaller and smaller doses are needed over time. Unlike simple stimulants, one does not “crash” on Nettle seeds when their effect wears off (usually 4-7 hours after ingestion), and appropriate rest and relaxation is actually often enhanced by their use.

Ingestion of fresh seeds my cause intense feelings of stimulation and can prevent sleep, so they should probably be avoided by those sensitive to stimulants, although fresh fully ripe seed tincture has been used in renal failure as a kidney trophorestorative by herbalists such as David Winston. Dried seeds are milder in action and more adaptogenic in action. Tincture of dried seed is also useful, though less ideal than dried seed since alcohol does not effectively extract the trace minerals. I’ve used the tincture much less than the whole seed, but in my experience most individuals only need 1-5 drops of the tincture for this application. This can be combined with tincture of fresh Nettle tops, to increase the restorative effect on the adrenals.

This particular use of Stinging Nettle is not yet well known or often used, so we must assume that there’s much more to learn and understand about its profound effect on the kidneys, adrenals and body as a whole. So far, the results have been very gratifying for herbalists already familiar with Nettle leaf’s gentle yet deep effect on depletion. I am personally very excited to continue developing my relationship with this common and endlessly versatile herb.

While Nettle leaf and root can be too diuretic (and therefore drying) for those already dealing with systemic dryness or yin deficiency, the seed seems much less drying and more supplementing in action. Nevertheless, care should be taken not to aggravate a dry condition, and practitioners may consider recommending a demulcent such as Elm, Flax or Mallow be taken concurrently with Nettle. A nervous system trophorestorative such as Milky Oat tincture may also be recommended alongside Nettle seed to quicken and deepen healing and restoration.

I’ve also written about Nettles several times over the last year, and here’s a list of a few of those posts:

http://bearmedicineherbals.com/?p=36

http://bearmedicineherbals.com/?p=41

http://bearmedicineherbals.com/?p=67

http://bearmedicineherbals.com/?p=62

http://bearmedicineherbals.com/?p=98