Meet the Elderberry bushes!

Say "hello" to our little friends!
These are the Elderberry bushes that I have been caring for over the winter :)

Only a few more weeks and they can start going outside for the first time in their lives... this must be SO exciting for them!!!!

According to "they" and "them", these bushes should bear fruit this fall.  We have 3 of them - the 3rd little bugger didn't want to be in the picture so it was hiding a bit.

They look healthy and seem to be very happy to be alive and thriving.  Hopefully the transplant will go well and we can get them in the ground by mid-April so that they can flourish and get super big in the next couple of years.  Eventually we will get a full 15 pounds of berries from each bush every year.  We are starting several more from seed as well - we can only hope that they do as well as these have.

Hooray for Elderberry bushes!!!!

Lavender

Lavender

Another superstar to go into the herb garden is Lavender.  I consider Lavender to be the Robitussin of herbs - just use it for anything and everything.  I swear at some point during my life I was told to put some 'tussin on an open wound!!

I digress...

Where were we?  Ah, yes ~~~~~ Lavender :)

Not only is its aroma intoxicating... it's been scientifically proven to relax you as well - yes - just the smell!

Some of the other benefits that Lavender touts:

*It helps to balance your emotions

*It eases stress

*Helps to sooth tension headaches

*Alleviates the pain of a burn (better than anything else I have ever tried including those over-the-counter sprays)

*Speeds cell renewal (aha... healing powers!)

*Antiseptic

*Antibiotic

*Great for acne-prone skin

*It's calming effects are said to be one of the best sleep-inducers around

I carry a tiny dropper bottle of Lavender essential oil everywhere I go.  You say you cut yourself?  Let me just drop some Lavender on it!  You burned your finger?  Lavender.  You're stressing over this or that?  Take a quick whiff of... oh yeah - Lavender!  Do you have an inherent desire to take over the world?  Lavender!  No -wait... I went too far.

...but the rest is true :)

We already use Lavender essential oil in many different products.  It is so gentle yet effective and its scent is wonderful on its own or mixed with lots of other scents... it plays very well with others in an olfactory way!

Can't wait to have the chance to use the whole plant to make oodles of wonderful concoctions.

Hope you all have a glorious day ~~ 

Valerian

Flowering Valerian

Although it will be a couple of seasons before we can harvest any of the root, we'll be gently plucking beautiful blooms to make flower waters and essences, which have benefits all their own!  The leaves and stems also carry benefits of their own - didn't want to leave them out :)

Valerian is known to be one of the most relaxing herbs available.  Some call it nature's Xanax or Valium.  In today's hectic world, who couldn't use something like that?  

Some of the benefits of Valerian are:

*Calming nervous tension

*Improving sleep quality

*Encouraging drifting off to sleep

*Lowering blood pressure

*Easing PMS symptoms

*Treating muscle cramps

*Great treatment for IBS 

*Heals wounds

*Soothes and heals ulcers

*Soothes and heals eczema

*Eases irritability

Although Valerian can safely be taken long term, many studies have shown, and most doctors will tell you that one should stop taking it for about a week every 6 weeks.  So take it for 6 weeks and then take a week off, then resume as normal.  If you're interested in learning more about this, simply let me know and make sure I have your email address and I'll go into more detail :)

Valerian is also a great candidate for a good old fashioned tonic wine - the kind your great grandma used to keep in the pantry and break out to sip out of a tiny cordial glass.  

The drug industry (Big Pharm) nixed the use of tonic wines waaaaay back when they first figured out that the healing qualities of herbs could be coaxed out of the plant parts and used widely in the mainstream - wine was too unpredictable and would create slightly different tonic strengths depending on the amounts of tannins, alcohol percentage, and many other factors of the wine itself.  

This was not good for Big Pharm, as they needed to ensure exact proportions in order to administer doses of drugs to patients.  It was just too difficult to get the consistency that they needed.  

The good news?  I am an herbalist - not a doctor.  I don't use a prescription pad to get you access to FDA approved medicine with exact amounts of active ingredient and fillers and who-knows-what-else... I use the old folk methods along with tips from older and up-and-coming lay herbalists alike to ensure that I am using the best and safest methods available to naturally coax the medicinal benefits from the herbs that we'll be working with.  

We purposefully left out a couple of herbs this year - like St. John's Wort and Yarrow.  This is because there are possible drug interactions and side effects that I would rather not deal with at this stage.  My point here is that I am using very safe herbs - ones that if the concentration varies a bit from batch to batch, nobody is going to get hurt.  

So we'll be bringing back tonic wines, as they are a very effective method of extracting medicinal qualities from certain kinds of plants and plant parts (again - if you want more info. on this, just be sure I have your email address and ask away - I am happy to elaborate but don't want to bore everyone to tears on our blog!).  Perhaps more about tonic wines in another post.

On to my day - lots to do today... and we should be seeing tiny little sprouts popping up within the next few days... I can't wait to get pictures for all of you!

Have a splendid day ~ more tomorrow!!!

Chamomile

Chamomile

Finally a weather forecast we can look forward to!  The 10 day forecast has all 50's and 60's after tomorrow ~~~  ah, SPRING... how we welcome you with open arms!

Today's feature is chamomile - a beautiful daisy-look-a-like. 

Chamomile has such a vast array of benefits, including:

*Anxiety reduction

*Digestive aid

*Hay fever reliever (even better when they rhyme!)

*Anti-inflammatory 

it can also:

*Treat skin problems of all sorts

*Help with indigestion

*Sooth and heal ulcers

*Helps those with insomnia to drift off to dream-land

*Eases cramping muscles

We'll be making so many products with fresh and dried chamomile - from teas that will be truly enjoyable to sip to infused lotions to soften every skin type.  

The seeds are in soil and I eagerly watch them do absolutely nothing - I'll post pics of tiny baby seedlings as soon as they are available!  

Happy weekend everyone.  I thank you for checking in and wish you all a warm refreshing spring week ahead :)

Until tomorrow...

Lemon Balm

Lemon Balm Tea

I am so excited to finally be growing lemon balm!  It has SO many uses and unlike some other herbs, this one has a lovely taste.  I'm sure that many of our fresh tea recipes will include lemon balm, not only for its medicinal value, but to improve the taste of other herbs.

Some of the benefits of lemon balm are:

*Eases stress and tension and helps one to relax

*Settles an upset stomach

*Lowers stress-related high blood pressure

*Cleans and heals wounds

*Used to attract bees to empty hives!

*Antiviral

*Antihistamine

*Good for topical treatment of eczema

*Externally treats shingles outbreaks, lessening severity and recurrence

... and look how pretty it is when it is flowering:

I hope to see the little sprouts within the next 2-3 weeks - the seeds are nestled in the soil :)

Stay tuned - tomorrow - Chamomile!

Have a splendid day ~~~~~~~

Echinacea

Echinacea (Purple Coneflower)

Oh, I hope my Echinacea patch is as lovely as this picture!!

Echinacea is a super star ~ both antibiotic and antiviral, you get a batch of tincture made with this beautiful plant and you can conquer the world!!!!  OK - maybe I got carried away... but I'll bet you could conquer a cold ;)

Our super star is known for its ability to jump start your immune system so that it can better take care of you.  It stimulates antibody production too, so if you feel a sniffle or a scratchy throat coming on, turn to the Echinacea to pump up your own little bacteria and virus army.  I'll bet that paired with Elderberry, these two would make your immune system unstoppable!

In addition to being great at fighting a cold or the flu, Echinacea is also an anti-inflammatory.  This is HUGE!  Do you know how many ailments are thought to be rooted in inflammation?  Let me name a few:

*Chronic pain

*Migraine headaches

*Arthritis

*Diabetes

*Acid reflux

and some doctors will say that inflammation causes ALL disease - including cancer.

As we progress, I'll have lots of pictures of our baby Echinacea plants to share.  

Hope everyone has a fantastic Friday!!!!!

Catnip - benefits galore!

Catnip!

Loved by kitties and in-the-know humans alike - catnip is the bomb! ...unless you currently take lithium... in which case, talk to your doctor before sipping on some catnip tea :)

It's a natural mosquito repellent - for this reason alone it deserves a place in my landscape.

WebMD says that you can use catnip to get rid of intestinal worms - ewwww!

Catnip helps some people to relax, has been known to reduce anxiety and to help those with insomnia to drift off to dreamland.

Also said to be helpful with stomach upsets such as indigestion, cramping and gas.

It's a beautiful perennial plant and is a native herb to my growing zone 6a.
It doesn't have many side effects, other than the mild sedative quality that it is likely used for in the first place, although all of the sources that I have reviewed say that not enough research has been done to say that it's safe for pregnant women to ingest catnip, so I wouldn't recommend it... this would definitely be a case of "better safe than sorry"!

So catnip made its way into the top 20 list and into the herb garden this year.  I can't wait to share photos and let you know all of the wonderful products that we will be making with catnip!!!

Tomorrow: Echinacea :)