Month: July 2018

Medicinal Herb Post #24 written on June 28, 2018

Cone Flower – Echinacea purpurea, E. angustifolia also in this group is Black Eyed Susan – Rudbekia hirta

This is one really cool plant and is very popular for good reason. It is considered one of the best immune enhancing herbs out there. It can have some residual buildup in the body so it should be used only 2 weeks at a time with breaks in between if using long term.

Echinacea is fairly easy to grow. Mine goes to seed and actually grows like a weed in my yard, but that’s okay I use every bit of it! It loves full sun, but may need to be protected from really hot afternoon days in the summer. Native cone flowers grow wild in the mountains and is considered a drought tolerant plant. Rudbekia is also used just like Echinacea except it is a little stronger. In fact the flowers are almost as strong as its roots. Echinacea is fairly mild and should be used with another simulating herb like, peppermint, cayenne, ginger or yarrow etc. Rudbekia doesn’t need a simulating herb for the body to use it properly.  I recently learned that Echinacea is stronger when tinctured fresh. If it has strong medicinal properties it will make your mouth tingle. I like to harvest leaves and flowers as they come on, roots in the fall of 2-3 yr old plants (before and they are too small and after they are too woody) and then the seeds as they ripen on the flower head. You need to grind up the seeds to break up the coating around the seed to release the medicine. Add all those things fresh to the tincture you started in the summer with the leaves and flowers and make a whole plant fresh Echinacea tincture. Steep for another 2-4 weeks. Strain and store in an amber bottle out of direct sunlight. According to Joe Hollis of Mountain Gardens in North Carolina the seed of Echinacea is the strongest medicinally.

As an immune booster that mobilizes white blood cells stimulates the body to produce more T-cells increasing the bodies defense against foreign invaders. It is a strong antibiotic and a good antiviral. It needs to be taken at the onset of an illness every 30 minutes to 2 hours for swollen glands, clogged lymph nodes, sore throat, ear infection, tonsillitis and a fever. If the illness persists and you start to feel worse stop taking it. It can increase cytokines and can make the illness worse. At that point take an herb like grape leaves or garlic to lower cytokines. Look up the Elder post I did a while back for a full list of herbs that increase and decrease cytokines. I like taking it with elder, yarrow and peppermint to kick out a nasty illness. These herbs also help echinacea to work better with in the body. Can be used for 10-14 days.

Echinacea was originally called “snake oil” back in the day. Today that term has a bit of a bad wrap, but it has a purpose and its named is well assigned. Echinacea contains a chemical in it called hyaluronic acid. It’s also found in the body and used to glue our cells back together when damage has been done. Viper snakes, like rattlesnakes and spiders, like brown recluse have a chemical in their venom called hyaluronidase that breaks down tissue, liquifying it. So echinacea does 2 things, it stops the venom from spreading and stimulates the body to produce hyaluronic acid in addition to what’s in the herb. Pretty sweet! A really effective herbal formula for poisonous bites like this would be to use equal parts: Echinacea root or use whole plant (can also use Rudbekia flower or root), Dandelion root to help the liver eliminate toxins, Marshmallow root to soothe and calm tissues so they don’t die and Plantain leaf to help draw out poisons. You would apply a poultice every 3 hours the first day then 2x a day, every 12 hours after that. You can use this same formula for other serious poisonous bites and stings. Echinacea is also really good for bug bites, including mosquito bites. It reacts quickly to foreign pathogens in the body. It can be used on tick bites as a tincture placed on a band-aide and changed every few hours.

Along the lines of using Echinacea to help the body produce more hyaluronic acid, it is very beneficial to use when there has been any damage to joints, cartilage, bones and connective tissues. I have a friend who recently used it along with other herbs like comfrey to heal a bad knee that would eventually need surgery because the cartilage had been worn down. After a month of using it she has felt much relief and can do a lot more than she used too. I have another friend that runs marathons and suffered a stress fracture in her hip. She also used the echinacea along with other herbs and took care of the problem in less than 6 weeks. She’s back to running with no issues. Echinacea needs to be used in large quantities, like 1 tablespoons 3x a day with a one week break every 2 weeks.

The only contraindication for this herb would be for those with autoimmune disease due to it’s ability to stimulate the immune system. For those who can’t use Echinacea, use Astragulus root instead. Astagalus is best used throughout the late fall, winter and early spring months to help strengthen the immune system deep within the bone marrow.

Medicinal Herb Post #23 written June 28, 2018

Dandelion – Taraxacum officinale

Well it’s true some people love this little plant using it as medicine and many others rage war against it with every pesticide known to man. Maybe after today I’ll convince you to grow or rather leave a little alone on purpose  . Did you notice the officinale in its name? Yes, dandelions have been used as medicine for a very long time. It’s incredibly hardy and there really isn’t a reason to purposefully plant it. It’s one of the first much needed plants honey bees get their food from in the early spring. It does prefer rich moist soil and full sun, but it can endure just about any environment. The young sweet green leaves are used around the world in dishes like lettuce or sautéed as a side. The flowers are used as an anodyne (pain reliever) as well as the roots medicinally. Roots should be harvested in the fall or early spring. I usually harvest in the spring pulling them up in places I want to grow something else in.

The root is a wonderful liver tonic and blood purifier. It stimulates bile production which cleanses the liver and helps it to do its job better. The leaf is used in kidney and gall stone formulas to help someone urinate more to expel the stones. I love using the roasted roots of Dandelion as a coffee substitute. Yum! The leaf is a diuretic, helping the kidneys and bladder expel unwanted toxins. It’s really useful for water retention build up, but the really cool thing about it is that God knew that potassium was needed with a diuretic plant and put high amounts of it in there. Many people who take pharmaceutical drugs for water retention have to watch their potassium levels. God is smart! It’s also high in other vitamins and minerals like calcium and iron. Many people use the flowers to make wine or jelly. I’ve even seen it used in salves. The latex found in the stem is great for getting rid of warts because it suffocates them. Apply several times a day for 2-3 weeks. There are no contraindications to using Dandelion.

I use the root with burdock and milk thistle for a gentle liver tonic to keep the liver happy.

Do you use Dandelion medicinally?

Medicinal Herb Post #20 written on June 25, 2018

Medicinal Herb Post #19 written June 25, 2018

Burdock – Arctium lappa

This biennial grows wild just about everywhere, near water, fertile soil, poor soil and even rocky soil. It’s quite tenacious and aggressive because of its prickly seed pods that will attach itself to any animal, bird or person to disperse and plant somewhere else. It produces broad leaves the first year and in the second year it sends up a flower stock with thistle like purple flowers.

Burdock is an amazing herb. The seeds, root and leaves are the medicine The root should be harvested the fall of the first year or spring of the second year before the plant goes to flower, seeds and dies. Burdock roots grow deep and contains many nutrients making it a great nutritive herb. It clears toxins within the digestive system, lessens sugar cravings, relieves gas, indigestion and constipation.  The root contains mucilage that is soothing to the gut during IBS flare ups. It is high in a prebiotic called inulin. This is a really important component in maintaining healthy gut flora. Burdock has been known to help a person restore from a long term illness.

The seed can be made into a tincture and taken internally for psoriasis or other scaly skin conditions. The leaf can be made into a poultice to help heal wounds and ulcers.

It is really good for skin conditions like eczema, psoriasis and other issues related with the skin, including acne from hormonal changes. It helps eliminate excess levels of estrogen in the liver and the symptoms that come with too much in the body like water retention, tender breast tissue, irritability, fatigue, depression and sluggish digestion when used consistently for 1-3  months. In addition, it is also really good for arthritis, a stressed liver and cancer. Interestingly, it’s not that it contains specific properties to address each of these ailments, rather it’s because burdock helps the liver do its job so it can take care of those odd looking cells that could potentially turn cancerous or extra inflammation in the joints or pull toxins from the skin. It is best used with dandelion root to help support and cleanse the liver. It can also help with lymph congestion, especially when used with cleavers and calendula. Not recommended to be used with insulin or oral anti-diabetic medications because of possible hypoglycemia.

I like to drink it as a tea with dandelion root. You can also drink burdock root beer by making a decoction using equal parts Burdock root, Cinnamon bark, Sarsaparilla root, Dandelion root and 1/4 part fresh ginger root. Place herbs in a pot and cover with purified water. Cook down to half volume and strain. Chill and add sparkling water. Sweeten with stevia. If using for medicinal purposes drink 2-3 cups daily for 2 weeks.

Don’t have time to do all that every day? Make a tincture. Use equal parts burdock root, dandelion root, Oregon grape root and milk thistle seeds. Grind up the roots and seeds and then put into a jar. Cover with 100 proof vodka, glycerine (mixture needs to be half water) or apple cider vinegar. Put the lid on and shake once a day keeping it out of the sunlight for 2-4 weeks. Strain and store in Amber bottle. Use 1/2 to 1 teaspoon 3 or 4 times a day for 4-6 weeks.

Medicinal Herb Post #17 written June 21, 2018

Yarrow – Achilliea millefolium

Are you ready for this list of amazing benefits? Yarrow is one of those plants that almost does it all! First, it is a perennial that reseeds itself easily, so once established it will be there for good if you let it. It prefers full sun, but will tolerate partial shade. It is happy with lots of water or dry conditions. Some herbalists believe the wild white variety holds the best medicinal benefits, but one herbalist in particular, Dr. Patrick Jones (Veterinarian and Herbalist) hasn’t seen a difference in his practice using other hybrid varieties. Yarrow contains the most amount of medicine when it blooms especially after a 3 week drought.

Yarrow is a fabulous antiseptic (good for infections), anodyne (topical pain), antihemorrhagic and styptic (meaning it stops bleeding internally and externally), anticatarrhal (removes mucus from the upper respiratory tract), anti-inflammatory (which can help with pain reduction), astringent (tightens and tones inflamed tissues, this also helps with pain), diaphoretic (induces perspiration to help the body eliminate waste and break a fever when taken as a warm tea), emmenagogue (stimulates menstrual activity and is useful for easing cramps and heavy bleeding, for this reason it should not be used during pregnancy), hepatic (strengthens and tones the liver), hypotensive (decreases blood pressure), and is a nervine stimulant.

Yarrow can be used for varicose veins and hemorrhoids to help tighten and tone tissues. It helps to clear hormones from the liver, decreasing PMS symptoms. Yarrow is wonderful used for lessening the duration of a cold or flu when used with elder and peppermint. It is diaphoretic, helping one sweat out a fever. Bathe in yarrow tea and Epsom salts. Wrap up in blanket and drink more warm yarrow tea to make a fever more productive driving out a fever within 20 minutes. According to Matthew Wood, it can be used to draw out rashes associated with chicken pox and measles, helping one to heal faster.

There are so many things you can do with Yarrow. I use it in skin salves for healing wounds of all kinds. I recently used the yellow hybrid variety to stop bleeding on my son’s face who was accidentally hit by a rock above his nose. He probably needed 2 stitches, but instead I used yarrow and a butterfly bandage and you can barely see where he got hit. George Washington had his soldiers carry the dry powdered herb with them during the Revolutionary war to stop bleeding. The dry powder was carried by soldiers up through the first world war. The dry herb works well for nosebleeds too. I know of midwives that use it along with Shepard’s purse to stop hemorrhaging only after a woman delivers her baby. Dr. Jones uses it to save animals from bleeding out in his Vet practice.

My son went hiking with me over the summer and was stung by a bee. We immediately went looking for yarrow. I had him chew up some leaves and place the spit poultice on the sting, then swallow his spit. The antihistamine properties worked immediately. The sting went away and he never swelled up. Two weeks later he was at a friend’s house and was stung again. He didn’t put yarrow on it and his foot swelled up pretty big.  He had to have Benadryl to bring down the swelling and it didn’t go away completely for 5 days. Yarrow is truly one of the best first aid herbs there is. I keep the tincture with me in my first aid kit.

Medicinal Herb Post #16 written June 19, 2018

Milk Thistle – Silybum marianum

I know what you’re thinking… that’s a weed! Well, yes to some people, but most weeds really are plants we don’t fully understand yet. I’m not promoting a practice of growing noxious weeds so please don’t shoot the messenger  . Milk Thistle is an annual or biennial depending on the conditions it grows in. It can produce up to 200 seeds per flower. The seed is the medicine you want so if that is why you’re growing it, it isn’t too difficult to control. Last year I took all the seed I grew except for the little guy in the picture below that came up on its own. You can determine the difference between this thistle and others by its white veined spots on the leaves that look like they’ve been painted with milk.

Milk thistle is the best known liver restorative there is. It strengthens, tones and protects the liver incredibly well! It can help regrow liver tissue! It is used in most herbal liver formulas from jaundice, hepatitis, cirrhosis and even eczema/psoriasis. Milk thistle helps the body to produce more glutathione which helps the liver detox harmful substances.

Dr. Christopher was an herbalist who has since passed away who shared a story of a farmer who had a horse that got into hounds tongue, a noxious and poisonous weed. The doctor gave the horse milk weed to protect its liver as it passed through its system and the horse lived. That wasn’t always the case for horses who got into those plants. Its benefits are so well known it is given to patients who have undergone liver transplants, chemotherapy and those who have been poisoned by taking too much Tylenol (also a dangerous substance that doesn’t allow your body to produce glutathione). Milk thistle also contains anti-oxidants, is an anti-inflammatory, is used for fighting infections concerning the liver like hepatitis and cirrhosis. Studies have shown that long term use lowers insulin levels making it a great herb for diabetics as well as the growth of certain cancer cells. Another study was done on mice. They separated them in to two groups. The first group got milk thistle with their breakfast and the second group didn’t. For lunch they fed the mice death cap mushrooms, the most deadly plant on earth. The first group who had the milk thistle didn’t die, in fact they weren’t even phased. Where the first group died instantly! Now that’s a powerful plant!

So what do you think of this little plant now? Pretty amazing right? There are no contraindications so it’s perfectly safe to take anytime.