About a week ago I felt a cold come on. It hit pretty fast, I woke up feeling fine but by the afternoon my throat was sore, I was coughing and all stuffed up. That night and into the next day I kept our Wellness tincture close by and took a dose about every hour and 24 hours after I stared taking it my symptoms were almost gone. I felt so well that I stopped/forgot to keep taking my tincture, which was a mistake, I should have kept going until I felt completely better. Fast forward a few days and the lingering congestion flared back up into a nice solid cough, the kind that keeps you up all night. This week has been very busy, along with the normal day to day chores of running a household it was our first week back homeschooling from the Christmas break (which is always a bit dicey) and our business decided to take-off this week (thank you!), so I just ignored the cough. Then last night happened, I was up all night, literally, I watched many episodes of “Friends” propped up on pillows, popping cough drops as the minutes and hours ticked by. I’m a night person naturally, my best work happens in the wee hours of the morning, but not like this! This is just torture!
This morning I declared today a day of healing. I know how to help my body get over this and its just stupid to not do it. I brewed a cup of tea with Colts foots to sooth the cough, Mullen to support the lungs and Lobelia to help break up congestion and I’ve been drinking cup after cup along with many doses of Wellness tincture to help with any lingering infection or virus. I’m planning on a full night of very restful sleep, hoping the kids cooperate!
Plantain salve is one of my very favorite salves and I have been making it for several years now. I use it for any type of bug bite or sting and all sorts of cuts, scrapes and burns, with nine children, family and friends bumping around the place that means a lot of salve. During the summertime plantain can be used fresh, but it isn’t always convenient, chewing up a leaf, applying and covering a mosquito bite with a band-aid isn’t as simple as dabbing on a bit of salve. It is also nice to be able to keep a small pot in my purse or bag to have on hand when I am not where plantain is growing. So every fall and winter I am sure to make plenty of salve to have on hand and some to sell to family and friends. The process though starts in the summer time when the days are long and the plantain is thick under the apple trees.
Handfuls of plantain is harvested, washed, cut and packed in quart bottles, then pure olive oil is poured over the top until all the plant matter is covered. It then sits in my sunny kitchen window for at least six weeks, being shaken daily, sometimes longer. This makes a beautiful green infused oil. this oil itself is nourishing and healing for the skin, but a bit messy.
When the oil is properly infused it is poured into a fine wire mesh colander that is lined with a clean cotton cloth to slowly drip for several hours. After all the oil has dripped through I will take and ring it tight, getting every last drop of the oily goodness. My hands are so happy after these days of wringing oil out, the plantain infused oil is so good for the skin.
After the Plantain has been strained out of the oil it is stored in quart jars in the refrigerator to keep it as fresh as possible until salve making time. I, using low heat, slowly melt beeswax in with the oil. As soon as the bees wax is completely melted I take the salve off the heat and let it cool some more, then I add lavender essential oil and yarrow essential oil. While still warm is it is poured into jars and closed tightly. They are kept refrigerated until used.
My family uses this salve exclusively, even my littlest kids know where the “green salve” is and know to put it on cuts, scrapes and burns. Plantain salve mixed with calendula salve is very effective when dealing with suborn diaper rash. We always have a little jar sitting by my tinctures and herbs ready for use and usually you can find a jar in my purse or diaper bag.
This year we will be sharing our favorite “green salve” with our customers in our shop and at the farmers market. This green goodness is too wonderful not to share!
In my patch I picked about half of the biggest most healthy plants. Healthy plants make good strong medicine. With a fork I gently lifted each plant with its root system intact. They looked so beautiful.
The big roots were sliced in half and about half of the smaller roots broken off, the green foliage and flower heads were trimmed back. The smaller roots and about a third of the big root stalks were set aside in my foraging basket.
The remaining roots were tucked back into their original spots, a few were planted in a new patch. My goal is to have a continual supply of 2-3 and 4 year roots. To do this I have to be very deliberate and thoughtful about how much I take, how much I re-plant and where.
And true to my nature and philosophy, all the greens and spent flower heads were laid right back from where they came. They will compost in place, feeding the soil that fed them.
This is my harvest, they will dry out for a few days, the dirt brushed off and then they will be tinctured for six weeks. These beauties will help keep my family healthy throughout the winter. They are also going to go into a formula I am working on that will be an even more powerful ally against the cold and flu.
When the clover gets tall and starts to blossom its time to harvest! Cover is a fun herb to harvest, especially for the little kids, its very simple, just pop the flower off. My little ones like to recite the line “Mama had a baby and her head popped off!” while picking clover, they also like to snack on the blossoms as we gather. We get a big paper grocery sack and fill it up about half way full. you have to be careful drying clover blossoms, they need a lot of air flow to dry without molding. Some people suggest laying the blossoms in a basket in a single layer not touching. I don’t have the room to dry herbs that way, so I put them the paper grocery sack and leave it on the kitchen counter where I see it often, and several times a day I give it a shake or stir. The paper helps wick away the moisture and stirring it often keeps the blossoms separate and allows for air flow. It takes about two weeks to dry in my neck of the woods, but we are dry, it will take longer in more humid climates.
Red Clover is an infusion that I use in my regular rotation, I plan on making it my ally when I move from child bearing years to my menopausal years and beyond.
Comfrey is quite easy to dry, but there are some considerations. The leaves are quite big and hold a lot of moisture, therefore they need to be dried loosely. Typically a person will gather a large bunch of plant materials, tie it in a bundle and dry. This won’t work with comfrey, I have ruined many batches by doing it this way, the comfrey will mold, and we don’t want that. Instead I have found that it is just as easy to hang each stalk on a nail and it drys very quickly this way, with out the mold.
After a couple weeks the comfrey will be nice and dry. At this point I will chop it up and store it in brown bags in a dark dry place. The reason I use brown bags is so any moisture that is left can be wicked out, instead of growing mold. I will use this through out the year in herbal infusions and poultices. Comfrey is one of my favorites for the garden, and for the body.