Years ago I began planting for the benefit of butterflies and birds. Then there was a period in my life where we raised parrots. I learned more about plants and found that “weeds” such as chickweed, plantain, and dandelions contained mega vitamins and we fed them to our parrots. We had some of the most pristine parrots in the bird show circuit…and nutrition always plays a key when it comes to feather condition.
So fast forward to today… with my wellness biz “cranked up a notch” with some newer technology, another part of me is wanting to learn more about sustainability and ways of the pioneers. Our property provides resources for my family. I learned back in 1990 that purple coneflower offers immune boosting properties, as do many of the plants in my backyard that I either cultivated or that God placed in the “wild”. I was very interested in the healing properties of plants.
Incorporating homeopathics into our home medicine cabinet (love the Community Pharmacy) these past several years, and avoiding toxic OTC and Rx drugs, it has propelled an interest in learning more about making my own remedies… Thus, my weekend of foraging and “putting up” seven jars of tinctures in the making. I feel it was a very productive holiday weekend…my tinctures are "fermenting" for cleaver weed, red clover, monarda didyma (red bee balm), wild bergamot (blue purple bee balm), motherwort (which I had always known as burning weed) and catnip.
My daughter called my line up of jars “artwork in liquid” with the pretty combinations of flowers, buds and leaves, although the clover was a jar filled with the red blooms. What I am most excited about is cleaver weed – which is an excellent promoter of lymphatic drainage. Many that I provide MSA service/scans for have lymphatic drainage issues, including myself. I am eager to see my own improvement, and share with others the resources from which I have learned, and they can look into making their own drainage tincture if they so choose. Here is Wisconsin, it is nearing the end for prime cleaver weed collection.
It is amazing how God keeps putting people in my path to take me along this journey that He has set me on…one foot in front of the other, grateful for each day, the people I can serve and the people He blesses me with. I am especially thankful to Meredith Rhodes Carson of Forward Health for instigating the foraging walk on Sunday in the arboretum. (No, we did not forage in the Arboretum, we only learned, so we can forage in our yards!)
The walk was the catalyst for my finally moving forward on a project I had been interested in doing ever since an organic vegetable grower friend of mine shared with me all the prized weeds in her yard and what they were used for. I am eager for my copy of The Herbal Apothecary to arrive. You may have another book to suggest, but I ordered THA after reading reviews...I like organization in a book such as this to learn to identify, preserve, and use all in one organized set...and it sounds like this fits the bill. If you have a favorite on herbs and wildflower uses please share in a comment!
Be well! Get to know your weeds!
Rita S.
So fast forward to today… with my wellness biz “cranked up a notch” with some newer technology, another part of me is wanting to learn more about sustainability and ways of the pioneers. Our property provides resources for my family. I learned back in 1990 that purple coneflower offers immune boosting properties, as do many of the plants in my backyard that I either cultivated or that God placed in the “wild”. I was very interested in the healing properties of plants.
Incorporating homeopathics into our home medicine cabinet (love the Community Pharmacy) these past several years, and avoiding toxic OTC and Rx drugs, it has propelled an interest in learning more about making my own remedies… Thus, my weekend of foraging and “putting up” seven jars of tinctures in the making. I feel it was a very productive holiday weekend…my tinctures are "fermenting" for cleaver weed, red clover, monarda didyma (red bee balm), wild bergamot (blue purple bee balm), motherwort (which I had always known as burning weed) and catnip.
My daughter called my line up of jars “artwork in liquid” with the pretty combinations of flowers, buds and leaves, although the clover was a jar filled with the red blooms. What I am most excited about is cleaver weed – which is an excellent promoter of lymphatic drainage. Many that I provide MSA service/scans for have lymphatic drainage issues, including myself. I am eager to see my own improvement, and share with others the resources from which I have learned, and they can look into making their own drainage tincture if they so choose. Here is Wisconsin, it is nearing the end for prime cleaver weed collection.
It is amazing how God keeps putting people in my path to take me along this journey that He has set me on…one foot in front of the other, grateful for each day, the people I can serve and the people He blesses me with. I am especially thankful to Meredith Rhodes Carson of Forward Health for instigating the foraging walk on Sunday in the arboretum. (No, we did not forage in the Arboretum, we only learned, so we can forage in our yards!)
The walk was the catalyst for my finally moving forward on a project I had been interested in doing ever since an organic vegetable grower friend of mine shared with me all the prized weeds in her yard and what they were used for. I am eager for my copy of The Herbal Apothecary to arrive. You may have another book to suggest, but I ordered THA after reading reviews...I like organization in a book such as this to learn to identify, preserve, and use all in one organized set...and it sounds like this fits the bill. If you have a favorite on herbs and wildflower uses please share in a comment!
Be well! Get to know your weeds!
Rita S.
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