A Flower For First Aid: Rose and Wound Care

A Flower For First Aid: Rose and Wound Care

My readers will all likely be very familiar with my fondness for any and all Rosa species, and most especially for my local wild Rosa woodsii. There’s no doubt that Rose is a popular plant among herbalists across the globe. Often though, I notice that it tends to be primarily known for emotional issues. While I would be the last person to debate its applicability in those situations (which are of course inherently tied into the individual’s overall physiology rather than being a separate domain), I do sometimes perceive a lack of serious consideration of Rose’s more down and dirty healing attributes. This post is my attempt at showing why and how Rosa can be utilized in first aid, and specifically in wound care. I will provide a brief overview of the...

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Prevention of and Herbal Therapeutics for Wildfire Related Smoke Inhalation

Prevention of and Herbal Therapeutics for Wildfire Related Smoke Inhalation

While I have previously dealt with the side effects of smoke inhalation from wildfires in my practice, never in the volume, length or intensity of this year with the smoke from Wallow fire (as well as that from the Horseshoe and other surrounding fires this year). The issues experienced as a result of or triggered by the smoke were exacerbated by both the incredible dryness (1-5% humidity many days this Spring) as well as a hard, cold winter during which there was a higher incidence of bronchitis, pneumonia and related respiratory dysfunction than I’ve seen in my seven year practice here. This post applies generally to any situation in which there is exposure to smoke, especially from a wildfire. You’ll notice an emphasis hot, dry respiratory diagnostic...

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Elder Mother Immune Elixir

Elder Mother Immune Elixir

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....

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The Elder Mother’s Pantry: A Bioregional Herbal Materia Medica for Influenza and Other Cold-Weather Ailments

The Elder Mother’s Pantry: A Bioregional Herbal Materia Medica for Influenza and Other Cold-Weather Ailments

As the colder weather begins to move into the northerly reaches and higher eleveations of the Western hemisphere, there’s been much talk of this year’s especially virulent strains of cold and flu. The most important action you can take this is preventative in nature, including ingesting plenty of fermented foods and bone broth, getting your Vitamin D, being sure to make time for rest and keeping a good stock of immune tonic herbs on hand. For this post though, I’ll be speaking specifically of bioregional herbs that can be allied with in the actual treatment of already present cold or flu. I have striven to create a simple, accessible, energetics-based materia medica based in your backyard rather than an expensive herb catalog. I’ll be dividing up my...

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Guest Post by Karen Vaughan: Two Different Types of Flu

Below is a guest post by Brooklyn Herbalist/Acupuncturist Karen Vaughan on two different kinds of flu and two different types of treatment. This was originally posted on Facebook by Karen and I found it so interesting I asked her for permission to reprint it here. There’s been a polarity in the reactions to the H1N1 flu, from hysteria to complete cynicism and denial. Personally, I don’t think either approach is useful at all. I am also of the opinion that cytokine storm and the different kinds of flu are certainly worth understanding (not to mention fascinating to anyone interested in health and the human body), if not for the present, then for the future. Wherever you stand on the issue, I hope you enjoy Karen’s intelligent exploration of the...

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Avoiding the The Cytokine Storm and Swine Flu Panic

First of all, don’t buy the media generated hysteria because all that adrenalin is just really bad for your immune system. I’m totally not to going to write a full explanation of the Swine Flu virus because lord knows there’s plenty of that online already. Suffice to say the current fears result from a Swine Flu (there’s been lots of Swine flus) variation that contains genetic material from swine, avian and human strains of flu. It is now confirmed to be able to spread from human to human and it is a descendant of the dreaded 1918 pandemic flu (which, contrary to common belief, was so deadly not because of the flu itself but because of the strep infection that accompanied it as well as some of the very inappropriate treatments used at that...

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