Keep It Movin! Herbal Corner

 Nothing like a cold, winter day, Brrr! I remember back in the day, before we would go outside, Mom would tell us to, "Layer up!" put on socks, long underwear underneath our pants, hat, scarf and gloves. We would be burning up inside the house but once outside, there was no stopping us. Nowadays, I use the word layer as a part of a herbal protocol. When I am going through cold, flu, I try to hit it at every level. Recently I started feeling a little under the weather-coughing, stiff neck, runny nose. I looked around the house, asked myself, "What do I have that I can start using now?" Like the story in the Bible about the woman and the jar of oil (2 Kings 4-KJV), I used what I had. To perk up my immune system, I started taking 2ml Echinacea (E. purpurea) 3 times/day, for about 4 days-Echinacea is used for acute onset of bacterial or viral infection (colds and flu).  To address my coughing, I combined White Horehound and Wild Cherry Bark Tea-both very good for the re...

                A few weeks ago I planted cuttings of Bacopa.            Bacopa now. It was much bigger. I cut a lot of it to dry and make tincture.                                        I cut fresh Rosemary-on bottom hanger, hung upside down to dry. Lavender at the top drying for another project. Bacopa (Bacopa monnieri) from my mother plant. After some weeks of patiently waiting, I had a nice bunch of fresh plants to work with. As mentioned before (Blog, "Remember What? Who?), Bacopa is a medicinal herb used to enhance cerebral functioning. I decided to pair Bacopa with another herb...Rosemary! The spice? Yes! In herbal medicine, Rosemary is indicated for impaired circulation to the brain, specifically for symptoms of depression or cloudy thinking. The pleasant aroma of Rosemary also helps alert the mind and improves...

Evening Primrose in all of her glory. Harvesting Evening Primrose flowers, pods and seeds for my infused oil. Evening Primrose seeds. The pods and flowers drying on the rack-It took about 2 weeks for the pods to dry. So we meet again, Autumn is here, time for harvesting what is in the yard and putting garden stuff away…or not. There are always projects to do and garden/plant events to go to. This month I attended a retirement party for the Coordinator of the Union Co. Master Gardener Program. It was a beautiful event, lots of folks came out.    Me and our Coordinator  at the party, she will be greatly missed.   Ok, back to the activity. Beeswax, a double boiler and infused Evening Primrose Oil (Oenothera biennis), 3 things I have not worked with…Well,  better now than never. For 2 weeks I air dried Evening Primrose pods, seeds and flowers (See pictures above). I thought to myself, “Why don’t you make something different with the infused oil, maybe a salve”. A sa...