Summer’s Spice: Beebalm Flower Infused Honey

It won’t be long now until the first brilliant purple flowers of Beebalm explode into bloom here in the Canyon. Locals call this gorgeous wildflower either Oregano de la Sierra or just Wild Oregano. Because yep, it tastes spicy and rather Oregano-like. The botanical name of this particular species is a bit long, being Monarda fistulosa var. menthaefolia, but really, any Monarda species will work just fine for most medicinal, culinary and other uses. The specific actions will, however, vary with the exact flavor and impression of the particular plants you work with.

There can be quite a bit of taste variation through the genus of Monarda, all are aromatic but some veer more toward the sweet end of the taste spectrum while others are definitely most appropriately called spicy. Our own wild Beebalm certainly has the capacity to make your eyes water and to elicit surprised yelps from the sensitive mouths of those who didn’t quite believe me when I said it was hot. There’s also often a buttery or oily aftertaste, a smooth slickness left on the tongue after ingestion of a leaf. This buttery effect doesn’t seem to be present in all species but is certainly an element of our local Beebalm.

This versatile plant has myriad uses in food, medicine and beyond and its one of my favorite herbs to talk about at length. It can be prepared a variety of ways, from the dried leaf to the tincture of the flowering tops to a sweet elixir of the flowers. What we’ll be talking about here though, is the preparation and use of the flower infused honey.

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Ingredients

• About a pint jar full of recently harvested, roughly chopped Beebalm flowers
• Appr. a pint of local raw honey

Directions

1. Fill jar with Beebalm flowers
2. Fill again with honey
3. Stir with butter knife, chopstick or something similar to remove air bubbles
4. Top off with honey
5. Repeat until jar is full of flowers and honey
6. Cover and allow to infuse for about 4 weeks

Now you have Beebalm flower infused honey. You can either warm it gently and strain it or use it as is. The flower bits taste good and make the medicine stronger but not everyone appreciates the texture.

Here are a few ways in which Beebalm honey can be helpful:

• Burn/Wounds – An excellent dressing for wounds and burns, even severe or extensive burns. Honey itself is very healing and can help to prevent or resolve infections, but the blood moving properties of Beebalm speed healing, lessen pain and treat infection. I especially love a combo of  Evening Primrose (Oenothera)/Beebalm flower infused honey for moderate to severe burns or wounds.
• Sadness & Stagnant Tension – Beebalm is a relaxant nervine. Being vary aromatic, it tends to be dispersive, moving energy and fluids up and outward. This makes it especially helpful for Kapha types with a tendency toward stagnation on a emotional level. It can help with sadness or tension that won’t seem to go away, especially when accompanied by a sense of stuckness and coldness. Be aware that it can make already spacey Vatas even more spacey (it’s that upward movement thing, when Vatas often need grounding, downward moving herbs). They’ll often like that euphoric feeling but it may or may not be helpful to them overall. Beebalm is also common ingredient in my formulas for those with seasonal affective disorder.
• Tummy Troubles – Being an aromatic with an affinity for the gut (otherwise known as a carminative), Beebalm works very nicely on achy, bloated bellies where there’s a sense of stuckness and dampness. It also combines well with many bitters, which would also usually be indicated in such a scenario.
• Sore Throat – Especially good for those achy, sorta scratchy sore throats. If there’s a sense of rawness, add in some Mallow root or Elm bark. If it’s more of a sharp, burning sort of sore throat, add in or substitute Rose petals.
• Respiratory Infection/Congestion – I’ve often talked about Beebalm leaves used in an herbal steam for cold/damp respiratory infection and congestion but the honey also makes a great addition to many respiratory formulas.
• Inflammation – Beebalm is great for many forms of systemic inflammation. I seem to use it where a lot of people would use Ginger, which makes sense with its spicy, diffusive taste. However, Beebalm is more variable in temperature (a la herbal energetics) and has a more complex mix of stimulant/relaxant effects. I also learned from West Viriginia Herbwife Rebecca Hartman that Beebalm can be mighty useful in addressing acute Lupus flareups, especially where there’s concurrent rheumatoid arthritis and the flareups manifest as acute joint inflammation and body pain. I usually work with the tincture/elixir for this purpose, but the hones seems to work pretty well too.
• Infections – Those of you who’ve read my other writings on Beebalm will be familiar with how often I use it for many sorts of systemic or local infections. However, the sugar content of honey makes this particular preparation less than ideal for that use, so stick with the tea, elixir or tincture for that application.
• Food – Well yeah, it just plain tastes good. Add it to nearly any hot tea, to all sorts of sauces and desserts or even just straight from the spoon (not the whole jar at once though, folks).

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All Photos ©2010 Kiva Rose

I don’t find the idea of magic bullets to be very effective in healing, and find that the most successful therapy always originates in tailoring the treatment to the individual person and situation. For this reason, you’ll rarely see/hear me recommending a set formula or list of herbs for any given diagnosis. In fact, my answer is almost always, “it depends” to any question asking about herbs to treat a disease or disorder. This is because I work with people, and with the unique ways a virus or pattern may manifest in each person.

For an overall tonic approach to modulating and enhancing the body’s native immune system though, I’ve seen Elderberry really shine, even in people with excess inflammation and/or autoimmune disorders. This elixir is one of only a few herbal preparations I would never want to be without. Although most people use it primarily to ward off or quicken healing from acute viral issues (influenza, primarily), I have found it useful in a variety of situations, especially chronic hyper or hypo immunity, extended illness and other depletion syndromes. The elixir is generally safe for children, pregnant women and nursing mothers taken in the moderate amounts suggested here.

Gentle, safe and very effective, Elderberry is one of our most important immune tonics, and is especially notable for its viability for children. Not only does it work extremely well, it also tastes good, which is certainly a plus when trying to convince your four year old to take her medicine. Elder Mother Elixir is safe even for small children, a food-like medicine appropriate for all ages. It’s also easy to create, making it a fun project for the whole family.

Elderberry does not simply stimulate the immune system, instead, it modulates the immune system to more appropriately respond to environs and circumstance. It also disarms the some cold and flu viruses and helps them flush through body quicker, while strengthening the mucus membranes, supporting the body’s natural fever mechanism without overheating, improves energy and stress handling AND last but certainly not least, it tastes great too.

Ingredients

For your elixir, it’s helpful to have on hand:

▪    A pint canning jar (or other glass jar that seals well)

▪    Fresh elderberries (dried can be used as well, simply use about a third of the amount, or about 2.5 oz to follow the 1:5 proportion method for dried plants).

▪    Several large pinches to a handful of dried Elder flowers (or a few ounces of Elderflower tincture added to the mix), this is optional, but my experience indicates that it makes the elixir more effective.

▪    About a pint of high quality brandy (the better the brandy, the better your elixir will taste), depending on whether you’re using fresh or dried berries.

▪    Appr. 1/3 pint of raw honey (or to taste, as you prefer)

▪    A good stirring spoon

Step by Step Instructions

•    First, fill your jar all the way to the top with fresh elderberries.

•    Now, pour the honey in slowly, stirring as necessary, until the berries are well coated.

•    Next, fill jar with brandy, stirring as you go, until all air bubbles are released.

•    Now cover the jar with a tight fitting lid, and shake carefully to finish the mixing process.

•    Let macerate in a cool, dark place for four to six weeks (or as long as you can stand to wait.

•    Strain, reserving liquid. Store in an airtight container in a cool, dark place.

Take 1/4 – 1/2 dropperfull of Elixir every two to three hours at the first sign of illness. You MUST take the Elixir frequently rather than having a bigger dose further apart, it just won’t work that way. Use the same dosage if you are actively ill. For a general preventative dose, I suggest 1/3 dropperfull every four hours or so.

Be sure to rest extra as well, the Elderberry has a much harder time with your immune system if you’re really worn down. A little extra sleep will increase its benefits tenfold. Likewise, staying well hydrated will assist Elder in its work.

Optional Additions

▪    Warming spices such as fresh Ginger, Osha, Calamus, Orange peel, Cinnamon powder/sticks or Cardamom pods can add flavor and zing to the elixir.

▪    Rosehips make a very helpful addition, I usually add a small handful or more of fresh Rosehips per pint of elixir.

▪   Soothing lung herbs such a Licorice root, Peony root or Mullein can be extra helpful for people with a propensity towards lung weakness.

The taste of a drop of rich wildflower honey, a lick of peach elixir or a sip of spice infused cordial is sensual, comforting and ecstatic all at once. Humans crave and love all things sweet, and while it’s clear that this is the taste most easily overdone and abused, it still retains its own medicine and magic.  Bees, maple trees, beets and other sweet creatures gift us with their rich blessings, and when used wisely they can be powerful allies in the healing process and add a special magic to the amazing sensory experience that is life.

I’ve chosen to do a general overview of a wide variety of Sweet Medicines this month’s blogparty post, including recipes, tips and insights where appropriate. My favorite sweet medicines are always those that can be used in small doses as an effective remedy and still taste not just sugary, but of the unique essence and flavor of the particular plant. Likewise, I don’t use sweeteners in my herbal preparations to cover up or mask flavors but rather to enhance and bring out the taste.

The medicinal effects of many herbs are dependent, at least in part, upon their taste. For instance, bitters work primarily through activating the release of gastric juices and are triggered by the taste. This means that if you choose to bury the bitterness in sugar, you are losing out on a big part of the plant’s medicine. I much prefer to compliment and enhance the flavor of bitters with aromatic herbs and just a touch of sweetness (depending on the case and what’s needed) which, once you’re acquainted and comfortable with the bitter taste, be quite satisfying and yummy.

Let’s just be clear that I don’t deal in exact measurements (that would foster dependance in my readers, and besides, I just can’t be bothered with measuring tools) so please take my proportions and adjust them to your personal tastes. I am using the folkloric method for infused honeys, vinegars etc in this post, so relax and wing it, you’ll be fine without weighing everything, I promise.

You will note that most of my preferred sweet medicines (like elixirs) or those that are very concentrated and require a small (or even tiny) dosage, such as a few drops of Rose up to half a dropper of Elderberry Elixir. They’re basically the same strength as tinctures, maybe a little bit stronger, depending on the herb.

~~~Cordials & Tonics~~~

Cordials are basically a combination of hard alcohol (often brandy) and a fruit flavored syrup or concentrate. The result is usually drank in cute little cordial cups with dessert (or perhaps breakfast, if you’re hardcore that way) or added to sweet foods for flavor. My cordials are less sweet than most with intense taste, most often made with a combo of wild fruits and herbs and some good hard booze. Many cordials are often drank straight but I really like using them as a flavoring in teas or sauces or other foods as well.

My version of tonics are basically tasty cordials but with more of medicinal level of herbal concentration, still suitable for sipping but ~strong~.

All recipes make one pint of cordial or tonic.

Wild Canyon Cordial

• 3/4 C wild grape juice (I suppose you could use domestic but it will be much less intense and complex in flavor)
• 1/4 C prickly pear fruit juice (or several tablespoons of syrup)
• slightly less than 1 C of Scotch
• large splash (or two) of a good merlot or dry elderberry mead
• 1 tsp of cinnamon tincture ( you can use a couple pinches of powdered instead if you like)
• Mix together in pint canning jar, cap and ideally allow age and mellow at least a month before indulging. However, if you can’t wait that long (I never can), it’s good to know that the addition of the wine really smoothes out the flavor and makes it a lovely sipping experience from the get-go.

Southwest Sunset Cordial

• 1 C Strawberry-Rhubarb Sauce (I just use a jar of our home-canned, non-chunky sauce)
• 1 C Tequila
• juice of 1 Lime
• 1/2 tsp salt (no really, it’s perfect)
• sugar or honey to taste (depends on how sweet your sauce was and how sweet you like it, rose infused honey is an extra bonus here)
• Generous splash of chardonnay

Mix together in pint jar and shake well. Let age for at least month.

Chokecherry Heart Tonic

• 1/4 C Chokecherry bark or bark/flower tincture
• 1/2 C Chokecherry fruit concentrate or syrup (possibly more if your concentrate isn’t strong tasting, ours is very intense and flavorful but the stuff you get from stores is often tasteless and terribly sweet and just don’t work for this)
• 1 C Brandy
• Sugar/honey to taste (very optional, just depends on your syrup and sense of taste)
• 1/4 tsp of Cinnamon tincture (or a good pinch of powdered cinnamon)
• 1 tsp Ginger infused honey (or just add a good pinch of fresh grated ginger)
• Generous splash of Merlot or Elderberry mead (optional)

Mix together in pint jar and shake well, allow to age for at least a month. This stuff is strong and somewhat mind-altering (in a relaxing kind of way), so use in small doses. It’s an excellent heart strengthener for people with signs of inflammation, high blood pressure, heart palpitations and general heat symptoms.

Wild Rose Tonic

This is my most complex cordial recipe listed here. It’s not difficult, just multi-step. Well worth it in my opinion though.

First, make a half pint of infused honey with finely chopped, de-seeded fresh wild rose hips, plus 1 tsp grated fresh ginger, 1 tsp. grated fresh orange peel and 1/4 tsp cardamom. Let infuse for one month, do not strain.

Then:

• 1 C spiced Wild Rose hip honey (as seen above)
• 3 Tbs Wild Rose petal tincture (or more, as desired for flavor)
• 1 C Brandy or Cognac

Mix together in a pint jar and shake well, allow to age for at least one month. This cordial/tonic is relaxing, uplifting and wonderful as a heart tonic, nervine, anti-inflammatory and bioflavanoid rich blood tonic. For a real treat, make a small cup of half Chokecherry Heart Tonic and half Wild Rose Tonic.

~~~Infused Wines & Meads~~~

This is easy, it’s just good wine infused with herbs and spices. It can be made with just enough herbs to add a bit of flavor, or it can be made more medicinal strength with a higher proportion of herbs.

All recipes are make one pint of wine.

Sweet Summer Cherry Wine

• 2 tbs dried Chokecherry twigs, chopped
• appr 20 Hawthorn berries, fresh or dried
• 3 unsulphured dried Apricots
• small handful raisins
• appr 1 pint red wine or a dark mead like elderberry, blackberry or pomegranate. Alternatively, this is also quite good in apple wine.

Place together in a pint jar, and allow to infuse for at least one month before straining and using. Don’t forget to eat those apricots and raisins, they’re very tasty. This is another heart and blood tonic, great for strengthening the heart and building the blood, it’s also relaxing and a wonderful way to wind down.

Mary of the Sea Wine

• 2 medium sprigs (about 3 inches long each) of fresh Rosemary
• 1 tsp grated fresh Ginger
• 1 tsp grated fresh Lemon peel
• appr. 1 pint white wine or light mead.

Place together in a pint jar, and allow to infuse for at least one month before straining and using. This makes a lovely warming circulatory stimulant, digestive tonic and tasty addition to many recipes.

~~~Glycerine Tinctures~~~

This is what most people (including myself, in the past) usually call glycerites. However, glycerites are creations generally beyond the scope of the home apothecary (think: lab), and what most people are making are properly named glycerine tinctures.

I’ve never liked the cloying taste of herbs tinctured in only glycerine, and that added to the facts that glycerine isn’t terribly shelf-stable and that it is a very highly processed product have just reinforced my original leaning away from glycerine.

For a while I was making some of my elixirs with glycerine (plus brandy or vodka, never alone) rather than honey, but despite my general avoidance of all sugars I have gone back to using honey in my elixirs again. It tastes better, your body recognizes it as food (with nutrients and everything) and it comes from beehive rather than a factory.

Glycerine tinctures are made similarly to alcohol based tinctures, preferably with dried plant material because the water content of fresh plants tends to cause the glycerine tinctures to go off rather quickly. Also, aromatic herbs are those generally best extracted with glycerine, like Lavender, Chamomile or Mint.

For dried herbs, fill the jar about halfway with plant matter ( a bit more if using flowers or fluffy plants a bit less if you’re using root, bark or other dense plant matter), then cover with a solution of 3/4 glycerine and 1/4 distilled water. Stir well to release air bubbles, cover and store in a cool, dark place for 4-6 weeks before decanting. Use within a year.

~~~Herbal Elixirs~~~

An elixir (from my perspective, anyhow) is really just a tincture with some honey added for flavor, property and preservation purposes. It’s a super easy and very effective way to work with many herbs and flowers and berries are often especially well suited to this method, although almost any aromatic plant is lovely as an elixir.

Elixirs are really my favorite sweet medicine and I’ve become a bit infamous for my constant rambling on about Elderberry and Rose elixirs. Here’s a few reasons why I’m so fond of this particular preparation.

1. The sweet taste brings out the aromatic flavors and heart healing properties of many herbs.
2. Honey actually adds to how well the herbs are preserved and increases the shelf-life of the tincture.
3. Unlike most sweet medicines, it can be used in very small doses, thanks to the particular combo of honey and alcohol. This keeps it from having much of a blood sugar impact.
4. Because it helps to bring out the flavor and aroma of many herbs, the herb’s nervine effects are enhanced, often in a significant way.
5. They’re also extremely simple and intuitive to make, here’s an example recipe made with Honeysuckle, with a few suggestions for other herbs that make lovely elixirs.

Honeysuckle Elixir

• 2 C Honeysuckle flowers and buds
• 1/3 C raw honey
• app 1 pint of Brandy (or rum or cognac or scotch or whatever you like)

Fill a pint jar with Honeysuckle flowers and buds (pick a spp with very little or no bitterness), then add about 1/3 C of raw honey. Stir well so that the flowers are well coated. Now fill the jar with brandy, vodka, scotch, cognac or whatever you like. I actually prefer 60% alcohol with Honeysuckle Elixir, so I usually dilute some Everclear for this. Stir again, and then taste. If it’s not sweet enough tasting (it will initially taste mostly like alcohol so you have to guesstimate), add a bit more honey. Now cover tightly, shake well and then store in a cool, dark place (shaking occasionally to dissolve the honey properly) for 4-6 weeks.

This elixir makes a wonderful relaxing nervine, and is amazing for all kinds of hot, acute conditions including fevers, bronchitis and infections. It can also be used externally if needed.

Lavender, Tulsi (Holy Basil), Ginger, Vanilla (yes, Vanilla is an herb too), Cinnamon, Rose, Fennel, Anise, Mullein flower, Evening Primrose flower, Juniper berry, Borage flowers, Beebalm, Sage and so on… Nearly any aromatic plant, including most kitchen spices, make wonderful elixirs.

~~~Electuaries~~~

Essentially, a paste of powdered herbs and a sweetener, in this case honey. These are intense and very flavorful. In the past, they have often been used to hide the flavor of bitter or unpleasant tasting herbs. My recipes are meant to be used in small amounts, usually I just roll a little ball out of the some paste (about half the size of a marble) and suck on it slowly, but it can also be spread on foods or taken straight by the spoonful.

They’re especially good where the whole herb needs to be taken (instead of extracted with a solvent like alcohol) and where coating the throat and GI is an important part of the medicine. An especially lovely and elegant way to treat sore throats, bronchial irritation or sinus congestion. Just don’t overdo it, this is medicine not candy.

Here are a few recipes with proportions and usage suggestions and directions at the end.

Winter Cherry Nourishing Electuary

• 2 parts Ashwagandha
• 1/2 part Nettle Seed
• 1 part Tulsi
• 2 parts Elm

This makes a lovely moistening adrenal tonic very helpful in times of stress or depletion, providing energy while relaxing the nervous system and body. It’s fairly temperature neutral, and generally gentle enough for anyone.

Wild Rose Electuary

• 1 part Rose
• 1/2 part Sage
• 2 parts Mallow

A great throat soother and excellent for calming down belly stagnation and heat. Powdered Evening Primrose flowers is very nice in this as well.

Basically, just mix your finely powdered dried herbs together in the desired proportion. Then, add enough slightly warmed honey (just warm enough to flow, not hot) to create a thick paste. Stir well, to make sure all powder is integrated. Check your texture and adjust as necessary, I like mine to be thick enough to roll into little balls but soft enough to be pliable. Using a mucilaginous powder as a primary part of your powders will help it all stick together better and will add a soothing, healing quality to the preparation. An electuary can be used right away, but I prefer to give mine a couple weeks to age and mellow a bit.

~~~Infused Herbal Honeys~~~

Beebalm Flower Infused Honey

• 2 cups of freshly harvested Beebalm (Monarda spp)
• appr 1 pint of Raw (preferably local) honey.
• pint canning jar with lid

So easy and delicious, making this herbal honey is as simple as filling a pint jar with your Beebalm flowers and then covering with raw honey. Next, stir the bubbles out (chopsticks work good for this), top it off with more honey if needed and then cover and store in a cool, dark place for 4-6 weeks. Very often, I don’t even decant my Beebalm honeys I just use (or eat) it, flowers and all. It’s a spicy-sweet ambrosia that will drop you dead in your tracks in open-mouthed amazement at the taste of it.

A lovely diffusive nervine and relaxant diaphoretic, Beebalm honey has a wide realm of application, from sore throats to tension headaches to fevers. This is one of the world’s best wound and burn dressings as well, often working to heal even stubborn bedsores and longterm infections.

~~Oxymels/Sekanjabin~~

A wonderful beverage of herbs infused in vinegar and honey. It is acidulous and sweet at the same time, and especially good for remedies relating to the lungs and GI as it is by nature expectorant and stimulating to the digestive tract. It is generally very cooling because of the sour taste, unless you really spice it up with warming herbs. I prefer apple cider vinegar for most of my oxmels but red wine vinegar or others may be used in its place.

Basically, we just combine an infused honey and an infused vinegar together and violá, amazingly tasty Oxymel! If you use molasses (in which you can decoct herbs) instead of honey, you have Switchel.

Recipes online will have you make a sugar syrup and cook the whole oxymel, but I prefer a cold infusion which seems to result in purer, more refreshing taste with less of that syrupy flavor.

Mint Sekanjabin

Mint Sekanjabin is a classic Arabic cooling drink to enhance digestion and is very tasty too!

Mint Infused Vinegar

Fill a jar with fresh mint, cover with vinegar. Cover and store in a cool, dark place for 2-4 weeks before decanting.

Mint/Lemon Infused Honey

Fill a jar with fresh mint, then add two tsp of grated fresh lemon peel and the juice of one lemon then cover with honey.

Add 4 parts infused honey to 1 part infused vinegar to a jar and mix well. Now you just add a teaspoon or two to a glass of water, stir and yum!

Other herbs that would work well here include Basil, Holy Basil, Lemon Balm, Sweet Clover, Peach leaf and even Rose. Add spices to taste (orange peel and Ginger is great with Rose etc) and enjoy.

The Preamble

I consider myself a simpler at heart, meaning I prefer the use of one herb at a time, chosen specifically for the individual and issue at hand. I find this approach encourages intimacy between person and plant, and allows for a clearer dynamic between the two that helps me to better see what’s happening and what might be needed. Formulas, especially pre-made ones from set recipes tend to confuse my intuition and observations skills (never mind the fact that many commercially available formulas are just badly put together). Nonetheless, I do find formulas to be very practical at times, especially when based on a small number of herbs selected specially for that moment in time.

I’m not discounting the effectiveness of ancient Chinese formulas or traditional Native American blends or Ayurvedic powders, I’ve seen them work very well, especially when carefully chosen by an experienced herbalist. I just prefer simple medicines (you know, weeds) used in simple ways (like soup or tea), the same way I like my food. Similarly, I use a very limited number of different herbs in my practice. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having a huge apothecary of botanicals from all over the world, but I really love the sustainability, intimacy and place-based wisdom that comes from working with my forty or so local plants. I generally feel the same way about people — I’d rather know a few people really well as individuals than be briefly acquainted with a group of people or an organization. Both kinds of relationships can be useful and productive, but I’ll choose intimacy any day.

I notice that some herbalists, usually beginners, tend to feel like they either have to belong to the simpler camp or the formulator’s camp, with nary a resting spot in between the two extremes. Personally, I try to adapt to the need at hand and thus use both ways as they suit the situation or person. Like I said, I tend towards the simpling but you won’t see me giving up my Rose/Basil/Lemon Thyme/Black Pepper tea any time soon or switching to eating exclusively mono-meals of lettuce or apples. On the other hand, sometimes I do want just the intense and primal delight of a handful of blueberries, a cup of vibrant Nettle tea or a bit of wonderfully aromatic Lavender elixir.  There’s this thing about balance, it doesn’t mean staying still, it means constantly adapting, moving and adjusting in order to keep upright (or upside down, depending). If we can embrace flexibility and evolving, this healing/learning process called life we’ll be infinitely more pleasant.

A Few Tips

•  I only use herbs in formulas once I’ve gotten to know the herb very well as a simple. This usually means a minimum of a full year of working with the plant one on one before I begin to blend it. Otherwise, you’re dependent on what other people or books have told you about the herb and every time your formula “works” you have to guess who did what, which makes it more difficult to personalize the formula for an individual. If you know each and every herb as an entity unto itself, you’ll have much more confidence when formulating.
• When I create formulas I tend to only use two to four herbs at time, although there’s always exceptions. I’ve come across very few situations where I’ve really needed to use multiple plants at one time. Acute or chronic or whatever, you can usually take care of it with one to three carefully chosen herbs.
• It’s imperative that I know exactly why each herb is in a formula, and that each choice is vital to the overall effect. Just because I’m making a formula to primarily address kidney dysfunction does not mean that I throw every “kidney herb” in the books into the mix, just because the person I’m helping has been diagnosed with depression does not mean I need to use St. John’s Wort. I choose the herbs that most clearly and concisely address the issue and match the person, taking into consideration herbal energetics, individual constitution, my intuition and so on. This prevents me from falling into the trap of treating a disease or even an isolated organ system rather than the whole person.
• I’ve come to realize that I strongly prefer some herbs by themselves and I never include them in formulas. This is mostly personal preference and intuition, but I’ve noticed that many herbalists feel this way about at least one or two plants in their materia medica. For instance, I never mix 
Bear’s Claw (Oplopanax horridum) with anything else. That’s not a rule, I’m not even recommending it, I’m just saying you should honor your intuition about these things unless you have reason to contradict it.
• Most herb books are full of formulas/recipes (sometimes that’s all they are). Many are completely useless, some marginally helpful and a few are actually quite brilliant. But how will you know the difference? Do you just go on the fact that the lady on the back cover looks kind and experienced the way a healer should? Or by the general rumble of approval of the author you’ve heard among your herbally inclined peers? Or that your second cousin used it once for her niece and it seemed to work? Well, I personally don’t recommend you use a single recipe until you get to know the herbs in the recipe on their own. Once you’re on speaking terms with a few of the herbs, you might want to take some inspiration from an author or teacher you respect and start mixing things up. After you’ve been doing it for a while, you’ll have a much easier time spotting what might be useful and what’s rubbish. The real danger lies in becoming dependent on your favorites herbalist’s recipes and thus crippling your own intuition and skills.

Some Benefits of Simpling

• Specifics – You know exactly who’s doing what, you don’t have to puzzle through fifteen herbs wondering which triggered heart palpitations in your kid or client.
• Intimacy – You get that special one on one relationship that happens when you work with a single plant at a time. There’s no replacement for that particular intimacy of getting to know the taste, texture and overall feel of a particular ally.
• Quality control – you don’t have wonder if the formula’s not working because the Skullcap was too old or the St John’s Wort came from a rainy year harvest or the Rose petals dried funny etc. There’s one plant, you can taste it, feel it and quickly get an idea if there’s something off and what that the issue might be.
• Avoiding the Mud - Too many herbs combined can make for a kind of physical grey noise in the body, a muddy mess of effects and feelings that never manages to result in anything helpful. That’s mostly bad formulating, but it can easily be avoided by using one herb and letting it do it’s thing.
• Discernment – The person choosing the herb is more likely to be particular and look for exactly the right medicine instead of choosing the first cool sounding bottle filled with trendy, well-advertised botanicals.

Some Benefits of Formulating

• Subtlety – Herbs tend to naturally buffer each other’s rough edges which can be super helpful when using a plant with a very strong personality. Whereas a single herb can sometimes overwhelm a person, a good formula usually feels more subtle and smooth.
• Synergism – formulas can result in amazingly complex (and utterly elegant) creations that effect in the body in a way that’s very difficult to get with only one plant. The whole being greater than the sum of the parts in this case.
• Safety – My experience is that you’re less likely to get serious side effects from a formula than a single herb (see the bit about buffering above). That’s a very general statement but it ~tends~ to be true. I am specifically referencing conscientiously created formulas here; if some strange person were to throw every major herbal stimulant into a pill and hand it out like candy, it would be different (and then some company would market it to American housewives as the answer to all their problems).

A Formula for Formulating?

I’ve seen a lot of formulas for formulating and while some of them are useful enough, I don’t teach anything similar. To my way of thinking, to need to depend on a set way of combining the herbs is to not be paying enough attention. Even a beginner can figure out what herbs to put together if they just remain aware and open and use their common sense. And when in doubt, use a simple.

A Word of Caution

One of the formula rules I do abide by is honoring the way the constituents of some herbs can react in negative ways with others. For example, if you have an herb high in alkaloids, and an herb high in tannins, they’re going to bind to each other become an inert mess (Silk Tassel and Sumach are no go for that kidney formula). For a quick herb interaction reference, check out this nifty manual (appropriately called Bad Formula Combinations) on Michael Moore’s site.

My version of pastilles are little balls of herbal powder held together by something sweet. They’re ideal for sore throats but can be used as a tasty dose of herbal medicine for many different issues, including belly troubles, anxiety or any number of other things. My original recipe came from the wonderful Herbal Home Remedy Book by Joyce Wardwell, but I’ve long since quit looking at the recipe so my version may vary a bit from hers at this point.

These are super simple to make, easy enough for children to help with and far less messy or demanding than most lozenges (though those are definitely worth learning to make as well) and require very few ingredients. They’re very transportable, children love them (usually) and to top it all off, they’re extremely effective. Many kinds of medicines can be made with the pastille recipe, a very quickly and easily absorbed form of medicine administration that is gentle enough for almost anyone. It also preserves the herbs extremely well, better than alcohol in some cases. So don’t just limit your use of these to seasonal colds, but explore their many applications for children and adults alike.

Mucilaginous herbs like Elm or Mallow work very well as a base for pastilles, they’re sweet, soothing and they help to bind the pastille together. They’re not necessary, but I definitely prefer them, especially for sore throats.

Ingredients

• Finely powdered herbs of your choice (say 2 parts Mallow root, 1 part Sage leaf and 1 part Rose petals)
• Honey, Maple Syrup or some other thick, sticky sweetener. If you use honey, you can use an herbal infused honey for added benefits. Rose or Sage honey is amazingng and ideal for this kind of thing.

How much you make is up to you, but I suggest starting with a fairly small batch until you find what works best for you, though I’ll provide you with some of my favorites.

Ideally you want to make about half  of your herb powder mix something like Elm or Mallow to provide a sticky base. The other half depends on what your using them for. For sore throats, I really like Rose and Sage, either by themselves or together. They’re both astringent, antimicrobial, healing and anti-inflammatory and Sage has a special affinity with the throat. Beebalm, Elderflower, Cottonwood (Poplar) buds, Calendula and even Osha can make good combos and some people like a bit of propolis thrown in.

Then you simply slowly add enough warm honey to make a thick paste, about a teaspoon at a time. If it gets too gooey you can add more herb powder to thicken it back up. Keep in mind that the gooier it is the harder it will be to dry it. Then take small pinches of the dough and make about marble sized (or smaller) balls, setting them aside on a piece of wax paper or something similar.

After you’ve finished the whole batch, let the balls dry in a warm, dry place. You could put them in the oven at a very low temperature, on top of the fridge or in the wood stove warmer. Depending on what method you use and your climate, they’ll be dry and fairly hard within a few hours to several days. You want them dry to help prevent spoilage and so that they dissolve slowly in the mouth rather than being just a gooey lump.

Once they’re dry, wrap each one separately in wax paper, cling wrap or similar and then store in an airtight moisture-free container. If stored properly, they’ll often last several years. The mucilaginous and astringent properties tend to last a lot longer than the volatile oils (in plants like Rose or Sage), so you’ll notice a slow change over the years, with the gooey soothingness usually the last property to go if you used a nice mucilage like Elm or Mallow.

Note: If you don’t finely powder the herbs, you’ll have gritty bits in your pastilles, which may put off some children or texture challenged adults. If you’re powdering your herbs yourself, you may want to put them through a fine sieve as well.

Also, check out my previous post on Herbal Honeys for more ideas and recipes.

Let me begin by saying that I recommend gathering your own herbs if at all possible, in part because this is the only way to really ensure the quality and treatment of the plants is truly optimal. And do realize, that pretty much wherever you are, you have the ability to collect some of your own food and medicine. Any child can learn to recognize a few basic (but very important) herbs, and so can you! Perhaps most important, is that this is one of the best ways to form a lasting and powerful relationship with the plants

However, I know that many of you have neither the time, expertise, land, energy or even desire to realistically harvest the bulk of your herbs. So here’s some of my experience-based understandings to help you knowledgeably purchase your medicinal herbs. Over the years, I’ve seen that many herbs will behave in their expected way even if not of the premium organic, small farm variety. I’ve also noticed that some plants simply MUST be harvested very carefully from a healthy environment in order for them to work well (if at all). With a few of these herbs it’s totally clear that they just don’t work, as in the Skullcap is completely inert. In other cases, they seem to work, kind of, of they work well in some ways but the breadth and depth of their effect has been lost somewhere in the industrial process, (Ashwagandha is especially prone to this).

• First of all, just completely avoid all plant matter that is some indeterminate shade of yellow-brown and has that distinct musty smell. Reject any herb that does not still look very much like it did while alive, it should still be vibrant and inspirited. If you’re buying from an herb store, it’s really preferable that the proprietor of the shop know where the herbs came from, when they were harvested and purchased and ~gasp~ something about the nature of the herb itself (something besides the newest drivel from alt. health glossies).
• It truly is best in almost every case to buy locally from a small grower or wildcrafter. It may take some footwork to find them, but they’re more common that you might think. In fact, it took me years to figure out their was an organic lavender farm a mere 1.5 hours from me, but you can imagine how excited (ecstatic) I was when I found out. I’ve made a habit of slowly tracking down all of the people in my region who grow herbs I want but can’t grow/find for whatever reason. So there’s a woman in the village who grows Calendula for me, and another with Basil, and then a sweet lady who brings me Elderberries from the mountains just over the border in Arizona.  It’s ever so satisfying to work with plants from your own bioregion and to be able to cultivate a relationship with the grower/harvester in person.
• If you are buying your herbs online then you need to be extra careful, and very choosy. The easiest way of out of this is to buy from small, reputable farmers and wildcrafters with an ethical, prayerful approach to their work and who will ship to your area. This way you can talk to the actual humans that grew, talked to, and picked the medicine you will be working with. Once upon a time it was a monumental task to find these mythical beings, much less purchase affordable herbs from them. It’s a different world these days, and there are many great small farms and independent wildcrafters that are both accessable and affordable. I have compiled a small list found below of those I have worked directly with or that have been recommended by other practicing herbalists.
• If you must buy your herbs from a large warehouse that gets its herbs from global sources, be sure to check that they do not irradiate their herbs and that they carefully test all of their stock for harmful chemicals and other undesirable substances. They will hopefully carry certified organic (for whatever its worth) and be working directly with the harvesters/growers of the herbs. This rules out pretty much all the herbs that come in those shiny foil packages. In fact, this eliminates most of what is carried in the majority of health food stores and many herb shops. And don’t let the hype and floral decor on their websites sway you either, you’re buying herbs not ads, after all
• Don’t be afraid to complain or return herbs to suppliers if they’re less than satisfactory, or to urge your local shopkeeper to carry better stock. Polite pressure for higher quality can make a difference in the long run. On the other hand, be sure to let providers of fresh, fragrant, wonderful herbs know how much you appreciate them and how important they are to you. A little appreciation goes a long way in helping these wonderful folks feel how needed they are!
• Keep in mind that not all herbs survive being dried and shipped around the world very well, no matter how nicely they’re treated. Some plants simply need to be used fresh or gathered locally. They’re living beings and can be quite delicate. Especially sensitive (to time, heat, etc) individuals include Skullcap, Passionflower, Lemon Balm, Basil, Ashwagandha, Red Clover, Raspberry leaf (don’t know why, but the leaf of commerce is generally awful) and Yarrow, among others. Some super tough plants include Chamomile, Rose (something I wouldn’t expect, but is generally true), Elderberry, Sage (usually), Thyme, Sumach and Elm. It’s all variable according to climate, treatment and sunlight exposure of course, but this has been my experience.

Whatever way and whoever you decide to get your herbs from, make sure the magic is intact. You know, the faery sparkles that live in happy plants. Yes, it sounds very silly, but really, any of us who have been using herbs for a while realize that the medicine works best when the spirit of the plant is present and alive. It’s the essential componant to how our body’s connect with and learn from these ancient allies.

Recommended Small Bulk Herb Providers that Ship in N. America

Zack Woods Herb Farm

AncesTree Herbals

Ryan Drum

Heartsong Farm Healing Herbs

From the Forest

Shining Mountain Herbs

Elk Mountain Herbs

Medium to Large Herb Suppliers

Mountain Rose

Pacific Botanicals  

I do a lot of brewing here. This is in part to compensate for the lack of refrigeration at the center but also just because I love the process of fermentation. I make homemade wines and ales of all kinds, but want to start here with a basic primer for Lacto-Fermented Herbal Brews because they’re easy, quick and you and your children can drink them to your heart’s content. The herbal sparkles are fizzy and tongue-tingly, and depending on the culture you use, they can also have a bit of a sour bite to them. Very yummy, and a great alternative to most commercial beverages out there.

1. Make a quart of herbal infusion. Yarrow, Elderberry or Chamomile are all good starting points. Let it infuse for several hours then strain.
2. Add a couple tablespoons of sugar or honey.
3. Pour about 1/2-1 cup of whey into the bottom of a clean quart jar.
4. Add infusion to jar until close to the neck of the jar.
5. Add two or three slices of fresh ginger (optional, but helps with the fermenting process)
6. Cover loosely (you can use a canning lid, just don’t screw it on all the way).
7. Let sit for two-three days (depending on warm the spot was and what you’re fermenting).
8. Drink up.
9. Store remainder in a cool dark place, in an airtight jar once you’re sure the fermentation process is done (you can put a balloon around the jar mouth overnight, and if it inflates it’s still fermenting.

It really couldn’t be simpler or tastier. You can get your whey from plain yogurt (by separating the solids from the liquid, the liquid is your whey) although I prefer the whey from piima. In a couple days, your brew will be sparkly, fizzy and delicious. With yogurt whey based brews, they’ll easily last for more than a month with refrigeration, but will get progressively sourer. I’m not sure what happens with piima because I drink it too fast to find out. I like these brews as a quick ferment for instant gratification. If I want longer lasting brews, I make wine or ale.

In general the more sugar you add, the fizzier the drink and the longer it takes to ferment. With lacto-fermented brews I find you really don’t need that much to make a tasty, sparkly drink. There is some alcohol content happening here, but it’s very low

What herbal infusion you choose depends on your tast. Yarrow is bitter and pungent, providing a slightly mind altering edge while Elderberry is blood nourishing, tart and a beautiful shade of purple. You get all the benefits of a normal herbal infusion plus the extra benefits of fermentation and friendly bacteria for your belly. Who can complain?

As with most traditional foods, there’s lots of room for improvisation with these brews. Endless combinations of herbs, sweeteners and ways of fermenting await you. Be creative, and don’t forget to have fun.

Last night I found myself wandering in the moonlight, perched barefoot on the edge of an ancient Mogollon indian pithouse where the most vibrant of the Wild Honeysuckle grow. I chose each bud, blossom and leaf carefully, grateful for the magic and medicine of these twining, woody creatures. When I brought my apron-full of flowers back to the cabin, I gently crushed them in my fingers before depositing them into a blue kettle of cool rainwater. On the old woodstove, I heated them slowly. The water came to a slow simmer before I removed the kettle from the heat and left it to steep while Loba and I planned the next day’s meals and prepared tea of Wild Mint and Roses.

One of the great blessings of the growing season is the ability to use herbs fresh for medicine and food. While all of naturally want to eat the freshest food possible, too many of us forget how useful and effective medicine fresh from the plant can be. Many people are familiar with fresh poultices and focused on fresh plant preparations like tinctures and oil, most don’t think to use herbs fresh for tea, infusion, compresses and the other myriad ways medicine can be prepared. But what bliss to gather fragrant and colorful herbs straight from the plant for healing!

In the Hispanic community here, fresh plants for medicine are considered immeasurably superior to dried in almost all cases. Teas and washes made from fresh Basil, Rue or Chamomile are revered and many try to keep the plants going year round in a sunny window just to have the vitality and power of the still living remedy. I have had a few old granny healers even tell me that dried herbs are next to useless compared to the fresh preparations, although I noticed they still kept small packets of carefully dried Manzanilla on hand despite their disdain. Certainly the vital spirit of the plant is more completely intact in the fresh herb, and seems to act more directly on the energetic level when worked with in this way.

Lately I’ve been completely enamored of compresses and soaks made from flowering Wild Honeysuckle, Mugwort and the tender pink new leaves of the shrub Live Oaks. The smell is delightful and the therapeutic value huge. When I use fresh plants for most medicines, I use about three to five times as much (by weight) as I would the dried. I don’t use a scale though I just go by feel and sight and have learned to adjust for each plant, depending on how water-dense the fresh plant is.

I also find that the simple act of harvesting, preparing and using all in one fluid progression of movements helps intensify our personal relationship to both the herbs and the healing process. The sensual engagement of scent, touch and taste is so completely integrated into the remedy and I find that clients and students feel more in sync with the experience when they participate in the full cycle, and are also more likely to fall madly in love with the herb this way. Herbalism is often the art of facilitating relationships between plant and person, and the closer the remedy is to its original state, the simpler our work in most cases.

And besides, what herbalist doesn’t relish a good reason to spend more time playing among the plants, listening to their sweet song in Spring’s  cool mornings and sunny afternoons?

~~~~~

Wild Honeysuckle pic (c)2008 Kiva Rose

I tend to cover every level of herbal therapeutics, nutrition and materia medica that I feel qualified to talk about. I know this can be overwhelming for beginners who may feel completely intimidated by the sheer volume of information and plants here (though I do tend to talk about the same plants over and over again). Do remember that you can use the categories (over on the left side there) or the archive index (up in the page bar) to narrow down the posts. You might want to start with the Terms of the Trade series I’ve started that explains terms and concepts of traditional western herbalism. There’s also the medicine making category that is primarily simple ways of herbal preparation. And if you’re interested in getting down to the heart of working with plants, there’s the talking with plants category.

So anyhow, salves. You need exactly three items:

Fresh or dried herb
A jar
Some lard (any good rendered animal fat will work)

Let’s assume you’re using a nice fresh green herb, like Mugwort (or Beebalm or Roses or Grape leaves). Harvest your plant, being sure to thank it for sharing its medicine and life with you. Chop it up coarsely. Fill your jar loosely with fresh plant.

Now, lard is fairly solid at room temperature, so you’ll need to get it slightly warm to make it liquid. When it’s nice and fluid, cover your plant with lard, filling the jar to very near the top. Poke the plant and lard mix with a chopstick or butter knife to get the air bubbles out. Put the lid on.

You could just leave the jar to cold infuse, but I like the results of a warm infusion better so I store my jar in a warm place. My favorite place is in the woodstove warmer but any consistently warm area in the house should be fine. The idea is for the jar to get very warm to the touch but you should still be able to pick it up without burning yourself. I let mine steep (warm method) for about three weeks, but six weeks if using the cold infusion method. When the lard is done infusing, strain it (you may have to get it warm again for this) and bottle it.

Another, more traditional approach is to put the lard in a pan on low heat, then add the herbs. Stir frequently, and cover when not stirring if working with an aromatic plant. Let the plant gently cook for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour depending on the plant. When the lard turns color and takes on the aroma of the plant and the plant matter is somewhat crispy (but not burned) it’s all ready. Strain, pour into jar, let cool. All done. Depending on what plant you used, it could also be used as a condiment (Beebalm lard is yummy!)

There you go. A traditional, incredibly effective medicine made in the same way that our ancestors on nearly every continent and every tribe crafted their medicine. Yeah, you could weigh things and create perfect proportions, but you’ll learn more if you eyeball it. Besides, it all depends on the plants you’re working with and who you’re making it for. Adapt, evolve and have fun!

We’ll get to the rendering of fat to make lard in another post.

~~~~~~~~~~

Grape flower buds and leaves photo (c) 2008 Kiva Rose

I really like to use simple, downhome remedies whenever possible, preferably made up of weeds and food. Here’s great poultice for swelling and inflammation can be rigged up with common items from your pantry and weeds from your yard. It can also be easily customized to individual needs.

Ingredients 
1 Cabbage leaf
1 small Potato
Cooling, anti-inflammatory weed (like Plantain, Mugwort, Sweet Clover, Chickweed, Alder leaves etc.)
Appropriate tinctures (optional)

So, first grate up the potato so that you have a nice 1/2-1 inch thick covering for the injured area. Then get the weed and chop or mash it up before blending it with the potato. By the way, if you don’t have a potato, you could always use grated cabbage instead.

If you want the added horsepower of more herbs in a concentrated form, you can mix some powdered herb in or add a few squirts of a tincture in. So if you had a sprained ankle and wanted to take the swelling down and relieve inflammation while not reducing mobility (in the way that ice can) then you could use fresh Mugwort as your weed component of the poultice then add Goldenrod and Peach tinctures for added cooling power. It all just depends on what you need, and also whether the skin is broken. If the skin IS broken, you’ll likely not want the tinctures (stings like hell, but might be appropriate in some cases) and will prefer a great proportion of mashed fresh plant matter.

Next, you pile the potato/herb mix onto the affected area and gently mold it to the flesh. Then take a piece of cabbage or even a whole cabbage leaf if the area is large enough, and place it over the potato mush, ideally making sure the cabbage leaf extends beyond the borders of the potato/herbs. It can be left as is, covered in gauze and taped down, or you can just apply the tape directly to the cabbage and strap it on there. Be sure not to apply the tape too tightly.

In most cases, the poultice can be changed every 6-8 hours, but if there is serious inflammation or the poultice starts to feel hot then I like to change it more frequently, often every 1-3 hours for the first day and then adapt from there.

If you have pets, they may want to eat your poultice which I don’t recommend at all. In fact, I strongly suggest keeping it out of the reach of small children and animals, depending on just what you put in there. Also, be sure to compost the poultice when you’re done, you wouldn’t want anyone to mistake it for dinner

Note: for children who won’t leave the poultice alone, a simple poultice of cooked mashed potatoes (hold the salt and butter) can be folded up in some muslin or a muslin bag and applied that way. Chopped or mashed fresh herb can be added once the potatoes have been cooked and then the mix sealed in muslin or cheesecloth. The plain mashed potatoes are useful for the two year old that tries to eat everything you place on his/her body. Whether you use the poultice warm or cool mostly depends on what you’re treating.

Note: If you read this post, please be sure to read the followup post as well which give further important information on the treatment of cellulitis and other infections of the skin.

I have recently attended to a great number of acute injuries to the hands and feet of various family, clients, students and assorted other people. Several of these issues required fairly prolonged treatment over period of days to weeks, with several applications/treatments a day. In quickie cases, I like to use tinctures or other ready made preparations I have on hand, but with something like this it’s much more useful to make water based herbal preparations as needed, and usually cheaper too. In every case I resorted to using a strong infusion as a soak for the affected body parts.

In one case, the foot had been cut in several places by a piece of dirty, rusty metal. The wounds appeared shallow and minor so were not properly attended to. A week later the foot began to rapidly swell from toes to ankle, turning somewhat purple and very hard in the process. The wounds were scabbed over and there was some redness around them, but not nearly enough to warrant the dramatic swelling and pain. The discomfort grew to the point where the person was not even able to walk, and then so bad they couldn’t have their foot below heart level without a terrible throbbing pain occurring. Also, it was worsening by the minute, and I could WATCH the swelling rise just while standing and looking for a minute or two. There was considerable stiffness from the calf down and the person could no longer feel their toes at all. The foot was also very hot, and so tender to the touch it was exceedingly difficult to examine.

I gave myself a 12 hour timeline for treatment, if it wasn’t considerably better in that time I would recommend a doctor’s office, which would likely result in strong antibiotics and massive scolding to the client for not seeking “appropriate” medical treatment earlier.

So, I infused the following into very hot water for half an hour (this is not a strict recipe or anything, just my intuitive choices and the reasoning behind them) for external application.

3 parts Rose (A favorite anti-inflammatory healer of mine that helps greatly lessen or eliminate heat from infection)
3 part Beebalm (One of my tried and true herbs for serious infections, especially those of the fiercely acute kind)
3 parts Mugwort (Great for pain and swelling, as well as serious inflammation)
2 parts Sweet Clover (For swelling and inflammation)

Internally, I used a triple herb tincture consisting of 3 parts Usnea, 3 parts Oregon Grape Root and 2 parts Beebalm flower. This was mainly to address infection and get the immune system. This person is already taking Balsamroot and Redroot for other reasons, or I might have added one or both of those to the formula as well. And yes, I can hear you all muttering Echinacea under your breath at me, but as most of you know, I have attitude about Echinacea and I’m busy proving I don’t need anything but local plants for my practice

Even after the first application of the infusion that evening, the swelling slowed and then began to recede. I used water as hot as was bearable, soaking a cloth in the infusion and then wrapping the foot in the cloth until it began to cool, then repeating until the pot of infusion got too cool to use. I followed up with a lanolin based salve of Pine to help draw out the infection which seemed to have a mind to burrow into the body.

Next morning, the swelling was visibly reduced, pain was lessened but there was an awful itch happening in the foot, and a red rash around the areas that were the most swollen. At first I thought the rash was broken blood vessels, but no, it was really a red rash. I thought about it being an allergic reaction to the herbs used, but in retrospect I realized this person had already used all of the herbs included in both the external and internal formulas without trouble. So maybe it was the foot trying to eliminate some of the infection byproducts or other unpleasantness. The latter made the most sense to me, so I continued with the treatment. Foot soak, tinctures and salve every three to four hours during the day, and extra long soak first thing in the morning and right before bed. During the second day of treatment, strange hard white goo oozed from one of the wounds that he re-opened during treatment (a very good thing to have the wounds opened back up in this case). After two days of treatment, I changed the salve to a lanolin based formula of Cottonwood, Alder, Elder flower and Sweet Clover for its general healing, rebuilding abilities along with continued anti-bacterial treatment.

About a week later, the foot is still healing, though the swelling is mostly gone and the stiffness is only present in the evenings. The rash comes and goes, but the wounds have now healed to barely pink scars. At this point, I’m using a soak of Plantain, Comfrey and Larrea to help draw and heal, with less emphasis on anti-infective qualities. I’ve also switched the salve to a Plantain/Evening Primrose (again, in lanolin) for similar reasons.

The other cases were less serious, but similar. One was a red, welted rash that appeared to be a reaction to some unknown irritant, another was a sliced up finger and so on. Because of what I have on hand, my herbal soak was fairly similar each time, although I added Mallow flower, Lavender and Oats to the herbal soak for the rash because of the soothing qualities, and avoided any salve so as not to hold in the heat and itchiness of the rash (and I asked her to let the soak cool to lukewarm before using it as well). Each time, the condition/issue has cleared up remarkably well. In some cases, I recommend whole body immersion in herbal baths, although that’s not terribly practical on site here at the Center with no plumbing and all.

I do love how the simplest things, just weeds and hot water, can treat issues that would have a doctor looking very grave indeed. Acute cases can be so gratifying too, often going from frightening to fine in 24 hours, and can make one appear to be a very competent herbalist too! In reality, while they can look more minor, chronic cases are the most difficult and most likely to defy treatment, but it’s nice to have some variety in one’s frustration/satisfaction levels.

As a side note, if you live in the SW, White Sage (S. apiana) and Larrea make a great all-purpose soak, it’s crazy-wonderful smelling in a desert kind of way and very effective. If you don’t live in the SW, I can pretty much guarantee you have some equally amazing herbs nearby that will work just as well.

Note: See that pretty purple flower up there on the left? It’s gorgeous, isn’t it? Currently blooming all over the Canyon. I believe it’s a wild astragalus of some kind, probably not the edible kind

Note: I made a correction to my fresh plant tincture example in the last paragraph of the Standard method section, that should have been 10 ounces not 25. Thanks for spotting that, Susan! 

To make a tincture, you need only a few ingredients: an herb, a menstruum and a container with airtight top. Optionally you might want a three beam scale and a glass measuring cup. Some herbalists like to have all kinds of fancy stuff, like beakers, industrial grinders and tiny funnels (very nice to have). I have a weird menagerie of tools that include a turkey baster, several different sized funnels and some chopsticks but I keep it pretty simple. Tincture presses can also be nice, but they are another subject for another post.

Processing the Plant

For fresh plants, just chop it up good first. For dry plants with leaf or flower matter, chopping is easy too. For roots, they usually come cut and sifted if you buy them commercially. If you harvest your own roots, you should remember to chop them up when they’re fresh if you know they’re going to get hard (like Redroot, which is herbal steel when dried). Some people insist that you must grind your dried herbs to coarse powder before tincturing to expose more surface area, but I don’t like ground up herbs much, and they get powdery stuff in your tincture that can be annoying to get out. It all depends on how precise you need/want to be. Being a folk herbalist, don’t see/fee much need to get too worried about it. My tinctures work as well or better than most commercial tinctures I’ve bought.

Simpler’s Method for Fresh Plant Tinctures

This is the easiest method and probably one of the most common for folk herbalists. Basically, you fill a jar with chopped fresh plant matter, then you cover it with alcohol of some kind (whiskey, rum, brandy, vodka etc depending on who you learned from and what part of the world/country you’re from). Cover it with an airtight lid, let sit for 2-6 weeks and then decant, reserving the liquid. It’s that easy.

I know that there’s a method of preparing dry plant tinctures this way too, but I only learned with fresh plants.

Standard Method for Fresh and Dry Plant Tinctures

This method is a bit more exacting. You don’t have to do it this way, but it’s useful if you’re working with a new plant or one with delicate constituents that you want to be sure to extract. And if you happen to enjoy math, then it can be kind of fun too. I like playing with the scale, but I usually do an herb by the book one time and then approximate the next time.

Now, glance at a basic herbal. They will tell you that you will use a ratio of 1:2 for fresh plant tinctures and (usually) a ratio of 1:5 for a dry plant tincture. It’s generally accepted in Western herbal medicine that it is most ideal to use 95% alcohol for fresh plant tinctures and varying percentages (with an average of 50%-65%) for dry plant tinctures depending on the constituents in the plant and the kind of medicine you want to make.

So, what exactly do these ratios mean anyway? They are weight of herb to volume of menstruum. That means that if you are preparing a dry plant tincture with a 1:5 ratio, and you have 1 ounce (by weight) of dried herb, you’ll want five ounces (by volume, in your glass measuring cup) of menstruum (alcohol or alcohol/water). If you are preparing a fresh plant tincture at a 1:2 ratio and you have 5 ounces (by weight) of fresh herb then you will need 10 ounces (by volume) of mentruum.

Issues

It’s easy to get confused by this in the beginning, and think they mean something like filling your jar a fifth of the way up with herb and filling it all the way up with alcohol/water. I’ve seen/heard that quite often, and remember being confused by it myself when I was younger.

Another issue is mass of plant to weight of plant. Some herbs are rather bulky and fluffy and very very light. Trying to smush enough herb into the jar to get the proper ratio can be mind boggling and sometimes impossible. If that happens, you have two basic choices: learn to percolate or just get over it. I’m not really excited about the math of percolation, so I usually smush as much as I can in and then just see how it works out. So far so good, and haven’t made an inert or uselessly weak tincture yet.

Step by Step

So, here’s a step by step tincture. You have some dried Yerba Mansa root and you want to make a tincture. This is what you can do:
1) Weigh the Yerba Mansa and discover you have about two ounces.

2) Look up or mentally note that dried Yerba Mansa makes a good tincture at a 1:5 ration and 60% alcohol.

3) Measure out ten ounces of menstruum (60% alcohol and 40% water) in a measuring cup.

4) Place plant matter (you can bang it around in a mortar and pestle too if you think it needs to be broken down more) in suitably sized jar (you want to avoid have much air space in the bottle when everything’s in).

5) Pour alcohol over plant matter.

6) Seal jar with airtight lid.

7) Store in cool, dark place for two to six weeks. I have variously decanted an herb at three weeks and once, two years later. Both tinctures worked well

8 ) Being a dried plant, shake once every day or so. Fresh plants when tinctured with a high percentage of alcohol do not need to be shaken, they will simply be automatically deprive of all of their liquid bits by the alcohol.

9) At the end of the designated time, decant (and squeeze squeeze squeeze all the tincture out of the plants) and reserve the liquid.

10) Store in an airtight container in a dark, cool place. Don’t open unless you need to as air exposure seems to speed up breakdown time. And don’t forget the LABEL, where you want to include what the plant is, usually both botanical and common names when you’re first starting out so you’re not confused later on because you only used some obscure folk name found in a book and now you don’t know what it is. You’ll also want ration, alcohol percentage, date you began the tincture, and perhaps date/location of harvesting. If you didn’t harvest it yourself, then the name of the place/date you bought it.

So there you have it, a fully functional and very useful tincture. There are further variables of course, like if you’re using an herb with lots of tannins you might want to add some (usually 10%) glycerine to the menstruum in order to enhance extraction and avoid precipitations of said tannins. Or you could also add an herbal honey for flavor and medicinal value and so on. There’s also various exceptions for the standard ratios like doing a fresh plant tincture of Lobelia at 1:4 instead of 1:2.

I love medicine making, and I value simplicity and straight-forwardness a great deal, so I keep my medicines basic for the most part. I only tincture one plant at a time (with rare exceptions), I don’t use percolation (there’s nothing wrong with it of course, I just haven’t gone there) and I’m not real concerned about things like fluid extracts or other super concentrated forms of medicine. I like herbal baths, simple tinctures, teas, decoctions, honeys, vinegars, oils/salves, nourishing infusions and FOOD as medicine. For me, good medicine is about integration and our individual journey towards wholeness. Healing should happen on every level and in every aspect of our lives. It’s not relegated to just a dropperful of tincture in the morning or a couple of capsules with lunch, it’s in every motion and word. Our intent to heal -to be well and whole- is most effective when it permeates each and every moment.

There’s this little herbal misunderstanding that has become a pet peeve of mine. Some people seem to think that grain alcohol (also known under the brand-name of Everclear) is somehow evil or unsuitable for medicine because of how strong (evidently this is equivalent to harsh). But really, it’s only as strong as you make/need it.

So, that cheap vodka you buy. It’s usually either 40% or 50% alcohol and the rest (60% or 50%) is water. That makes it Everclear with with a bunch of water added. Expensive water, eh? You can sometimes buy high quality vodka from potatoes or some source besides grain but it’s a pretty penny in most places.

So, you could buy yourself some Everclear (if it’s legal in your state) or you could buy organic grain or grape alcohol from Alchemical Solutions and have it shipped to you. It’s 95% alcohol.

Now, to make a fresh plant tincture I prefer a high alcohol percentage. I’ve used every kind of percentage from 40% on up, and I have to say that in most cases, I far prefer a higher percentage (from 75%-95%) because it tastes more like the plant and takes a very low dosage for effective medicine, and seems to preserve better. Now let’s be clear, your fresh plant tincture WON’T be 95% alcohol because the fresh plant itself contains water (how much depends on the plant of course), so it’s not quite like taking a dropperful of Everclear or something. Some plants have tons of water in them (think of juicy plants like Plantain or Wild Mint). And hey, if you want to only use 50% alcohol for your tincture, well then hell, just use half water and half grain alcohol.

For dry plant tinctures, you’ll rarely use 95% alcohol but it makes it really easy to calculate the exact percentage that you do need. So if you need 45% alcohol for your dried Ashwagandha, why then just add enough water to the alcohol to make that (again, appr. half and half, I personally usually just eyeball it). If you want to know some good recommendations for the various percentages of different dry plant tinctures, head over to Michael Moore’s site and download his free Materia Medica. I won’t get into the math of tinctures here, I just want to dispel the evil Everclear myth and show useful it really is. Otherwise you’re forever stuck with 40% tinctures, which is ok for many herbs, but when you have lots of aromatics or resins, it’s really less than ideal and is fairly evident upon tasting or using the medicine.

You don’t have to get all uptight and scientific about measurement, just approximate and you’ll usually do fine. Practice and experience will make it much easier. And yes, the people at the liquor store or bar will think you’re an alcoholic. And if you tell them you’re making medicine with it, they’ll just nod knowingly and roll their eyes at each other over your head. Eventually though, you’ll be in there selling THEM little bottles of tincture because they can’t get rid of last winter’s lung grunge. Poetic justice, I say.

Making most all of my salves in animal fat is this past year’s herbal experiment. Lard is an interesting substance, lovely and white and creamy and… so very smelly. At the moment, I’m having to use plain ol’ storebought lard since I haven’t found a good source for easily obtainable and affordable organic lard and I’m out of bear fat just now (I’m going to try making lard with the next beaver tail I get though). Regular lard from pork smells kind of like bacon, but weirder. Considering the aroma, I tend use an equally strong smelling herbs in order to balance the aroma effect. Nevertheless, the salve still usually ends up smelling a bit like food.

Why use lard, you ask. For a few reasons, not the least of which is how easily absorbed into human skin it is, making for a better vehicle of healing than plant based oils. Another is the fact that one can easily make lard from available animal fat, and I haven’t figured out how to make almond or olive oil yet. Also, you don’t have to ad beeswax to lard salves, making it a cheaper alternative to the normal olive oil and beeswax method. Animal fat, often bear fat, is the traditional way of making salves for many primitive peoples because it works well and is easily made from available resources.

You can likely make lard salves with a crockpot or double boiler or any other standard warm infusion method. I generally use the method taught to me by a cantankerous old Mexican though, which is to melt a bunch of lard in a pot, and crush up a bunch of some dried smelly, traditional healing herb like Sage or Sweet Clover and toss that in. Keep the temp fairly low, you don’t want crackling, you just want very warm fat. Stir frequently and let infuse with the lid on for at least forty five minutes, or until the plant matter begins to lose its color. For fresh plants like Estafiate (Wild Mugwort) or Indian Tobacco (that’s Mullein to all you non-local gringos), chop the plant up and toss into hot fat, but leave the lid off or at least cracked so that the water can evaporate out. It’s done with the plants are crispy (deep fried Mullein anyone?), usually in about forty five minutes to an hour. After removing the fat from the heat, let sit for about ten or fifteen minutes, then strain very carefully (animal fat gets hot hot hot and burns like hell if you’re not careful). Pour into appropriate containers and allow to set in a cool place. I was not taught with any particular proportions but the well known 1:5 for dry plants and 1:2 for fresh plants works fine.

When you’re all done, you have a nice traditional form of salve that works tremendously well. I expect that many of you, my esteemed readers, will not like the peculiar smell. And no, I can’t say that bear or beaver fat smells that much better either, different but not necessarily better. Beaver fat from winter killed beaver can sometimes taste/smell a bit like gamey cottonwood buds though, which might be better than bacon, depending on your viewpoint. I however, have grown rather fond of the scent of White Sage and bacon.

You can also make a good fat based salve with ghee, which at this point in time might actually be more cost effective than olive oil and beeswax. Either way, I find these animal fat based salves to be very therapeutically effective, and a great option for those who hunt, farm or otherwise have access to good lard or butter.

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.