OSusun S. Weed April, 2012

Be Your Own herbal Expert

Part 8

herbal medicine is the medicine of the people. It is simple, safe, effective, and free. Our ancestors used – and our neighbors around the world still use – plant medicines for healing and health maintenance. It’s easy. You can do it too, and you don’t need a degree or any special training.

Ancient memories arise in you when you begin to use herbal medicine. These lessons are designed to nourish and activate those memories and your inner herbalist so you can be your own herbal expert.

In our first lesson, we learned how to “listen” to the plants by focusing on how they taste. In lesson two, we explored simples and water-based herbal remedies. In the third lesson, we learned how to tell safe (nourishing and tonifying) herbs from more dangerous (stimulating and sedating) herbs. Our fourth lesson dealt with poisons; we learned how to make a tincture and we put together our herbal Medicine Chest. The fifth lesson found us making herbal vinegars, and the sixth, making herbal oils.

In our last lesson together, we looked at our thoughts about healing; we discussed the Scientific goal of fixing the broken machine, the Heroic intention to cleanse the toxins from our polluted bodies, and the Wise Woman desire to nourish the wholeness of the unique individual.

In this, the eighth lesson, we return to the herbal pharmacy, to make healing sweets: herbal honeys, syrups, and cough drops.

In our next lesson, the ninth and last of this series, we will continue our exploration of the ideas behind healing with a tour of the Seven Medicines.

HONEY

Honey has been regarded as a healing substance for thousands of years. Greek healers relied on honey water, vinegar water, and honey/vinegar water as their primary cures. An Egyptian medical text dated to about 2600 BCE mentions honey 500 times in 900 remedies. What makes honey so special?

First, honey is antibacterial. It counters infections on the skin, in the intestines, in the respiratory system, or throughout the body.

Second, honey is hydroscopic, a long word meaning “water loving”. Honey holds moisture in the place where it is put; it can even draw moisture out of the air. A honey facial leaves skin smooth and deliciously moist. These two qualities – anti-infective and hydroscopic – make honey an ideal healer of wounds of all kinds, including burns, bruises and decubita (skin ulcers), an amazing soother for sore throats, a powerful ally against bacterial diarrhea, and a counter to asthma.

Third, honey may be as high as 35 percent protein. This, along with the readily-available carbohydrate (sugar) content, provides a substantial surge of energy and a counter to depression. Some sources claim that honey is equal, or superior, to ginseng in restoring vitality. Honey’s proteins also promote healing, both internally and externally.

And honey is a source of vitamins B, C, D and E, as well as some minerals. It appears to strengthen the immune system and help prevent (some authors claim to cure) cancer.

Honey is gathered from flowers, and individual honeys from specific flowers may be more beneficial than a blended honey. Tupelo honey, from tupelo tree blossoms, is high in levulose, which slows the digestion of the honey making it more appropriate for diabetics. Manuka honey, from New Zealand, is certified as antibacterial. My “house brand” is a rich, black, locally-produced autumn honey gathered by the bees from golden rod, buckwheat, chicory, and other wild flowers.

Raw honey also contains pollen and propolis, bee and flower products that have special healing powers.

Bee pollen, like honey, is a concentrated source of protein and vitamins; unlike honey, it is a good source of minerals, hormonal precursors, and fatty acids. Bee pollen has a reputation for relieving, and with consistent use, curing allergies and asthma. The pollens that cause allergic reactions are from plants that are wind-pollinated, not bee-pollinated, so any bee pollen, or any honey containing pollen, ought to be helpful. One researcher found an 84 percent reduction in symptoms among allergy sufferers who consumed a spoonful of honey a day during the spring, summer, and fall plus three times a week in the winter.

Propolis is made by the bees from resinous tree saps and is a powerful antimicrobial substance. Propolis can be tinctured in pure grain alcohol (resins do not dissolve well in 100 proof vodka, my first choice for tinctures) and used to counter infections such as bronchitis, sinusitis, colds, flus, gum disease, and tooth decay.

WARNING: All honey, but especially raw honey, contains the spores of botulinus. While this is not a problem for adults, children under the age of one year may not have enough stomach acid to prevent these spores from developing into botulism, a deadly poison.

hERBAL HONEYS

herbal honeys are made by pouring honey over fresh herbs and allowing them to merge over a period of several days to several months. When herbs are infused into honey, the water-loving honey absorbs all the water-soluble components of the herb, and all the volatile oils too, most of which are anti-infective. herbal honeys are medicinal and they taste great. When I look at my shelf of herbal honeys I feel like the richest person in the world.

Using Your herbal Honeys

Place a tablespoonful of your herbal honey (include herb as well as honey) into a mug; add boiling water; stir and drink. Or, eat herbal honeys by the spoonful right from the jar to soothe and heal sore, infected throats and tonsils. Smear the honey (no herb please) onto wounds and burns.

Make an herbal Honey

{  Coarsely chop the fresh herb of your choice (leave garlic whole).

{  Put chopped herb into a wide-mouthed jar, filling almost to the top.

{  Pour honey into the jar, working it into the herb with a chopstick if needed.

{  Add a little more honey to fill the jar to the very top.

{  Cover tightly. Label.

Your herbal honey is ready to use in as little as a day or two, but will be more medicinal if allowed to sit for six weeks.

herbal honeys made from aromatic herbs make wonderful gifts.

Make a Russian Cold Remedy

{  Fill a small jar with unpeeled cloves of garlic.

{  If desired, add one very small onion, cut in quarters, but not peeled.

{  Fill the jar with honey.

{  Label and cover.

This remedy is ready to use the next day. It is taken by the spoonful to ward off both colds and flus. It is sovereign against sore throats, too. And it tastes yummy!

(Garlic may also carry botulinus spores, but no adult has ever gotten botulism from this remedy. A local restaurant poisoned patrons by keeping garlic in olive oil near a hot stove for months before using it, though.)

Make an Egyptian Wound Salve

“I thought at first this would be dreadful stuff to put on an open wound . . . Instead, the bacteria in the fat disappeared and when pathogenic bacteria were added . . . they were killed just as fast,” commented scientists who tested this formula found in the ancient Smith Papyrus.

{  Mix one tablespoonful of honey with two tablespoonsful of organic animal fat.

{  Put in a small jar and label.

Increase the wound-healing ability of this salve by using an herbally-infused fat.

Make a Remedy to Counter Diarrhea

{  Fill one glass with eight ounces of orange juice.

{  Add a pinch of salt and a teaspoonful of honey.

{  Fill another glass with eight ounces of distilled water.

{  Add ¼ teaspoonful of baking soda.

{  Drink alternately from both glasses until empty.

Make Dr. Christopher’s Burn Healer

He recommends this for burns covering large areas. Keep the burn constantly wet with this healer for best results.

{  Place chopped fresh comfrey leaves in a blender.

{  Add aloe vera gel to half cover.

{  Add honey to cover.

{  Blend and apply.

Best to make only as much as you can use in a day; store extra in refrigerator.

Fresh Plants That I Use to Make herbal Honeys

Anise hyssop (Agastache foeniculum)

Comfrey leaf (Symphytum off.)

Cronewort/mugwort (emisia vulgaris)

Fennel seeds (Foeniculum vulgare)

Garlic (Allium sativum)

Ginger root (Zingiber officinalis)

Horseradish (Armoracia rusticana)

Lavender (Lavendula off.)

Lemon Balm (Melissa off.)

Lemon verbena (Aloysia triphylla)

Marjoram (Origanum majorana)

Oregano (Origanum vulgare)

Osha root (Ligusticum porterii)

Peppermint (Mentha pipperata)

Rose petals (Rosa canina and others)

Rose hips (Rosa)

Rosemary (Rosmarinus off.)

Sage (Salvia off.)

Shiso (Perilla frutescens)

Spearmint (Mentha spicata)

Thyme (Thymus species)

Yarrow blossoms (Achillea millefolium)

hERBAL SYRUPS

herbal syrups are sweetened, condensed herbal infusions. Cough drops are concentrated syrups. Alcohol is frequently added to syrups to help prevent fermentation and stabilize the remedy. Cough drops and lozenges, having less water, keep well without the addition of alcohol.

Bitter herbs, especially when effective in a fairly small dose, are often made into syrups: horehound, yellow dock, dandelion, chicory, and motherwort spring to mind in this regard.

Herbs that are especially effective in relieving throat infections and breathing problems are also frequently made into syrups, especially when honey is used as the sweetener: coltsfoot flowers (not leaves), comfrey leaves (not roots), horehound, elder berries, mullein, osha root, pine, sage, and wild cherry bark are favorites for “cough” syrups.

Using herbal Syrups

A dose of most herbal syrup is 1-3 teaspoonfuls, taken as needed. Take a spoonful of bitter syrup just before meals for best results. Take cough syrups as often as every hour.

Make an herbal Syrup

To make an herbal syrup you will need the following supplies:

{  One ounce of dried herb (weight, not volume)

{  A clean dry quart/liter jar with a tight lid

{  Boiling water

{  Measuring cup

{  A heavy-bottomed medium-sized saucepan

{  2 cups sugar or 1½ cups honey

{  A sterilized jar with a small neck and a good lid (a cork stopper is ideal)

{  A little vodka (optional)

{  A label and pen

Place the full ounce of dried herb into the quart jar and fill it to the top with boiling water. Cap tightly. After 4-10 hours, decant your infusion, saving the liquid and squeezing the herb to get the last of the goodness out of it.

Measure the amount of liquid you have (usually about 3½ cups). Pour this into the saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat until the infusion is just barely simmering. Continue to simmer until the liquid is reduced by half (pour it out of the pan and into the measuring cup now and then to check). This step can take several hours; the decoction is not spoiled if it is reduced to less than half, but it is ruined if it boils hard or if it burns. Keep a close eye on it.

When you have reduced the infusion to less then two cups, add the sugar or honey (or sweetener of your choice) and bring to a rolling boil. Pour, boiling hot, into your jar. (Sterilize the jar by boiling it in plain water for a few minutes just before filling it.) If desired, add some vodka to preserve the syrup.

Allow the bottle of syrup to come to room temperature. Label it. Store it in the refrigerator or keep it in a cool place.

Make herbal Cough Drops

You must make a syrup with sugar, not honey to make cough drops, but you can use raw sugar or brown sugar instead of white sugar and it will work just as well.

Instead of pouring your boiling hot syrup into a bottle, keep boiling it. Every minute or so, drop a bit into cold water. When it forms a hard ball in the cold water, immediately turn off the fire. Pour your very thick syrup into a buttered flat dish. Cool, then cut into small squares.

A dusting of powdered sugar will keep them from sticking. Store airtight in a cool place.

Make Throat-Soothing Lozenges

{  Put an ounce of marshmallow root powder or slippery elm bark powder in a bowl.

{  Slowly add honey, stirring constantly, until you have a thick paste

{  Roll your slippery elm paste into small balls

{  Roll the balls in more slippery elm powder

Store in a tightly-closed tin. These will keep for up to ten years.

Plants That I Use to Make herbal Syrups

Comfrey leaves (Symphytum uplandica x)

Chicory roots (Cichorium intybus)

Dandelion flowers or roots (Taraxacum off.)

Elder berries (Sambucus canadensis)

Horehound leaves and stems (Marrubium vulgare)

Motherwort leaves (Leonurus cardiaca) pick before flowering

Plantain leaves or roots (Plantago majus)

Osha root (Ligusticum porterii)

Pine needles or inner bark (Pinus)

Sage (Salvia off.)

Wild cherry bark (Prunus serotina)

Yellow dock roots (Rumex crispus)

Coming up

In our last lesson of this series, we will examine the Seven Medicines: Serenity Medicine, Story Medicine, Energy Medicine, LifeStyle Medicine,herbal and Alternative Medicine, Pharmaceutical Medicine, and Hi-Tech Medicine.

Experiment Number One

Make a simple syrup, using only one plant. Make it once with honey, once with white sugar, and once with a sweetener of your choice, such as barley malt, agave syrup, molasses, sorghum syrup, or maple syrup. (See list for suggestions of plants to use.)

Experiment Number Two

Make a syrup with three or more plants. Choose plants that are local to your area, or ones that you can most easily buy.

Experiment Number Three

Make three or more simple herbal honeys using different parts of plants, such as flowers, leaves, roots, or seeds. (See list for suggestions of plants to use.)

Experiment Number Four

Make an herbal honey with a plant rich in essential oils (such as sage, rosemary, lavender, or mint). Try it as a wound treatment. Try it on minor burns. Try it as a facial masque. Record your observations.

Experiment Number Five

Make one or more of the recipes in this lesson.

Further study

1. Make a yellow dock iron tonic syrup following the recipe in my book Wise Woman herbal for  the Childbearing Year.

1. Make “Peel Power” following the recipe in my book New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way.

Advanced work

Compare the effects of honey from the supermarket, organic honey, raw honey, and herbal honey by using each one to treat the same problems and carefully recording your observations.

Tags: herbs, honey, medicine

• Herbal

OSusun S. Weed March, 2012

Be Your Own herbal Expert

Part 7

herbal medicine is the medicine of the people. It is simple, safe, effective, and free. Our ancestors used – and our neighbors around the world still use – plant medicines for healing and health maintenance. It’s easy. You can do it too, and you don’t need a degree or any special training.

Ancient memories arise in you when you begin to use herbal medicine. These lessons are designed to nourish and activate those memories and your inner herbalist so you can be your own herbal expert.

In our first session, we learned how to “listen” to the messages of plant’s tastes. In lesson two, about simples and water-based herbal remedies. In the third, I distinguished safe (nourishing and tonifying) herbs from more dangerous (stimulating and sedating) herbs. Our fourth lesson focused on poisons; we made tinctures and an herbal Medicine Chest. Our fifth dealt with herbal vinegars, and the sixth with herbal oils.

In this, our seventh session, we will think about how we think about healing.

The Three Traditions of Healing

There are many ways to use herbs to improve and maintain health. Modern medicine uses highly refined herbal products known as drugs. Many alternative or holistic practitioners recommend herbs, usually in less-refined (and less dangerous) forms such as tinctures or homeopathic remedies. And then there are the yarb women, the wise women, such as myself, who integrate herbs into their daily diet and claim far-reaching results for simple remedies.

I call these three different approaches the Scientific, Heroic, and Wise Woman traditions.

These three traditions are ways of thinking, not ways of acting. And they are not limited to herbs. Any technique, any substance can be used by a healer in the Scientific, Heroic, and Wise Woman traditions. There are, for instance, naturopaths, midwives, and MDs in each tradition, as well as herbalists, educators, therapists, even politicians.

Each of these traditions lives within you, too.

As I define the characteristics of each tradition, identify the part of yourself that thinks that way.

Scientific Tradition

Modern, western medicine is an excellent example of the Scientific tradition, where healing is fixing. The line is its symbol: linear thought, linear time. Truth is fixed and measurable. Truth is that which repeats. Good and bad, health and sickness are put at opposite ends of the line, where they do battle with each other. Food and medicine are quite different.

Newton’s universal laws and the mechanization of nature are the foundation of the Scientific tradition. Bodies are understood to be like machines. When machines run well (stay healthy) they don’t deviate. Anything that deviates from normal needs to be fixed or repaired. The Scientific tradition is excellent for fixing broken things. Measurements must be taken to determine deviation and insure normalcy. Regular diagnostic tests are critical to maintaining proper functioning and ensuring utmost longevity in the body/machine.

In the Scientific tradition, plants are valued as repositories of poisons/alkaloids. They are seen as potential drugs, and capable of killing you in their unpredictable crude states. They are helpful and safe only when refined into drugs and used by highly-trained experts.

In the Scientific tradition the whole is the same as its most active part, and machines are more trustworthy than people.

Heroic Tradition

There is not one unified Heroic tradition, but many similar traditions collectively called the Heroic tradition. Alternative health care practitioners generally represent the Heroic thought pattern, symbolized by a circle.

This circle defines the rules, which, we are told, must be followed in order to save ourselves from disease and death. Healing in the Heroic tradition focuses on cleansing. According to this tradition, disease arises when toxins (dirt, filth, anger, negativity) accumulate. When we are bad, when we eat the wrong food, think the wrong thought, commit a sin, we sicken and the healer is the savior, offering purification, punishment, and redemption.

In the Heroic traditions, the whole is the sum of its parts. We are body, mind, and spirit. The spirit is high and worthy; the body is low and gross; the mind is in between. In the Heroic traditions, we are personally responsible for everything that happens to us.

Religious beliefs frequently accompany herb use in the Heroic tradition. The Heroic healer uses rare substances, exotic herbs, and complicated formulae. Drug-like herbs in capsules are the favored in this tradition. Most books on herbal medicine are written by men whose thought patterns are those of the Heroic tradition.

Wise Woman Tradition

The Wise Woman tradition is the world’s oldest healing tradition. It envisions good health as openness to change, flexibility, availability to transformation, and groundedness. Its symbol is the spiral. In the Wise Woman tradition we do not seek to cure, but focus instead on integrating and nourishing the unique individual’s wholeness/holiness. The Wise Woman tradition relies on compassion, simple ritual, and common dooryard herbs and garden weeds as primary nourishers, but appreciates (and uses) any treatment appropriate to the specific self-healing in process.

The Wise Woman tradition sees each life as a spiraling, ever-changing completeness. Disease and injury are seen as doorways of transformation, and each person is recognized as a self-healer, earth healer: inherently whole, resonant to the whole, and vital to the whole. Substance, thought, feeling, and spirit are inseparable in the Wise Woman tradition. The whole is more than the sum of its parts.

Spiralic and amazing, the Wise Woman tradition offers self-healing options as diverse as the human imagination and as complex as the human psyche. The Wise Woman tradition has no rules, no texts, no rites; it is constantly changing, constantly being re-invented. It is mostly invisible, hard to see, but easier and easier to find. It is a give-away dance of nourishment, change, and self-love. An invitation to honor yourself and the earth. An admonishment to trust yourself.

Coming up

In our next sessions we will learn how to make herbal honeys and syrups, and how to take charge of our own health care with the six steps of healing.

I also invite you to study with me in the convenience of your home via correspondence course! Choose from one of my four courses: Green Allies, Spirit & Practice of the Wise Woman Tradition, Green Witch, and ABC of herbalism with Susun Weed. Learn more at www.susunweed.com or write to me at susunweed@herbshealing.com

Experiment Number One

The next time you start to feel unwell, ask yourself what each one of the three traditions would advise you to do – e.g. You feel a headache coming on. The Scientific tradition says take a pain killer. The Heroic tradition says give yourself an enema. The Wise Woman tradition says take a nap. (For more information on the three traditions, see the chart in my book Healing Wise.)

Experiment Number Two

Instead of doing what you usually do for some problem (e.g. headache), do something different. Choose something from the same tradition you usually use, or from a different tradition.

Experiment Number Three

Become more aware of the “nourishment of your senses” as Gurdieff put it. What do you look at? Listen to? Smell? Touch with your skin? Taste?

Experiment Number Four

Nourish yourself in a new or different way. You might: eat something – or eat somewhere – that you’ve wanted to try but never dared. Go to a museum, or the opera, or the ballet, or a Broadway show. Visit with a cherished friend. Listen to music that touches your soul. Sit in meditation and burn subtle incense.

Experiment Number Five

Make a list of ten things that nourish you that are now in your life.

Make a list of ten things that could nourish you if they were in your life.

Further study

1. Become more familiar with the Scientific tradition: Read one or more issues of Scientific American and/or Science News.

1. Become more familiar with the Heroic tradition: Skim through Back to Eden or any current book on detoxification.

1. Become more familiar with the Wise Woman tradition. Read:

Healing Wise, the Wise Woman herbal. Susun Weed. 1987, Ash Tree Publishing.

herbal Rituals. Judith Berger. 1998, St. Martin’s Press.

Healing Magic, A Green Witch Guidebook. Robin Rose Bennett. 2004, Sterling.

The Secret Teachings of Plants. Stephen Buhner. 2004, Inner Traditions.

The Village herbalist, Sharing Plant Medicines with Family and Community. Nancy and Michael Phillips. 2001, Chelsea Green Publishing.

Advanced work

• The three traditions of healing are not restricted to healing of course. You might have recognized these three attitudes in your profession. Wonderful articles have been written on the “Three Traditions of Teaching” (the Scientific relies on tests, the Heroic on punishment and reward, the Wise Woman on freedom to experience and express) and the “Three Traditions of Therapy” (the Scientific refers to manuals and prescribes drugs, the Heroic blames the unconscious, the Wise Woman nourishes the spirit and builds wholeness) and even the “Three Traditions of Cooking” (the Scientific uses a thermometer and a recipe, the Heroic blackens and heavily spices everything, and the Wise Woman uses what is in season where she lives).

• Apply the three traditions to your profession.

• Read about the history of herbal medicine. Suggested books:

Green Pharmacy, the History and Evolution of Western herbal Medicine. Barbara Griggs. 1997, Healing s.

The Magical Staff, the Vitalist Tradition in Western Medicine. Matthew Wood. 1992, North Atlantic .

Witches, Midwives, and Nurses, A History of Women Healers. Barbara Ehrenrich and Deirdre English. 1973, Feminist Press.

I see the wise woman. She carries a blanket of compassion. She wears robes of wisdom. Around her throat flutters a veil of shifting shapes. From her shoulders, a mantle of power flows. A story band encircles her forehead. She stitches a quilt; she spins fibers into yarn; she knits; she sews; she weaves. She ties the threads of our lives together. She forms a web of spiraling threads: our lives invented and shared.

I see the wise woman at her loom: a loom warped with days of light and nights of dark. White threads, black threads receive the flying shuttle. A shuttle filled with threads of many colors. Threads the colors of the earth, the common ground; threads the colors of the people of the earth. Some threads are short; some threads are long; each thread is different, each perfect and splendid. The threads are alive with sound and color. The threads are mutable; they change at a touch. The threads are crystal antennae; they respond at a thought.

And intertwined with each thread, a thread blood red, a thread of such sensitivity, it seems invisible, a thread of such vitality, it can never be hidden. As our blood flows over and under the days and nights of our lives and binds each moment to the whole, so the red thread of the wise woman binds us in the tapestried, cosmic web, holds us in our variety, spirals lovingly around us, claims us again at death.

I see the wise woman. And she sees me.

(Excerpt from Healing Wise, c. 1987 Susun S Weed. Available thru www.AshTreePublishing.com )

Tags: healing, Herbal, herbs

• Herbal

Rayneschild January, 2012

I’ve been interested in all type’s of crafting for quite a while, but what I’ve alway’s found the most enjoyable is anything to do with herbs.  Most people assume making bath salts is simply a matter of using Epsom or Sea salts, herbs, essential oil, and perhaps some color.  Actually the best bath salt recipe is equal amounts of Epsom salts, Sea salt, and Baking Soda.  Use a blender to grind the salts down to a fine consistency like the baking soda.  By using these 3 ingredients you’re actually accomplishing multiple objectives.  First baking soda softens the water, second Epsom Salts in and of themselves contain minerals and have a certain amount of healing properties, and last but not least the sea salt opens your pores allowing whatever benefit the herbs you’ve added to permeate the skin.

Of all the recipes I’ve done, my favorite and one of the simplest, is to add lavender buds into the blender with the salts and grind them into it.  It intensifies the smell incredibly, but even then I’m not above adding a drop or two of lavender essential oil on top of it, and then it’s off the charts!!

Another really easy thing you can do is pick up a clear bottle with a cork stopper, I get mine at thrift stores, it’s rare not to find one.  Make enough salts to completely fill the bottle, then separate it into 2 zip-lock bags, make sure they are definitely zipped!  Prior to closing the bags add a colorant to each, maybe something that matches the bathroom colors, and two nicely corresponding fragrances.  This is where surety of closure is a must, shake the bags really hard, until the color, and oil, is mixed in well.  Grab a funnel, and just like sand art, stack stripes of alternating color.  Get it close enough to the top of the bottle that when you push the cork in firmly, all the stripes are held in place.

I’ve added blanched almonds and oats, that have also been ground in the blender, with a dash of almond scent or even almond extract.  Vanilla extract makes a really nice simple bath as well.  Obviously you can add dried herbs with the essential oils and use a tea-ball, knee-hi stocking, or any other thing that wouls allow the salts out while holding the herb’s in.  I’ve had a good time with this project in the past trying to come up with better and better recipes, although sometimes it seems like a great idea in my mind, but my nose, and anyone else’s in smelling range tells a far different story.  But like any good craft project the failures can sometimes be more fun than the success!!!!

Tags: herbs, oils, salts

• Crafts

OSusun S. Weed December, 2011

Be Your Own herbal Expert Part 5

herbal medicine is the medicine of the people. It is simple, safe, effective, and free. Our ancestors used – and our neighbors around the world still use – plant medicines for healing and health maintenance. It’s easy. You can do it too, and you don’t need a degree or any special training. Ancient memories arise in you when you begin to use herbal medicine – memories which keep you safe and fill you with delight. These lessons are designed to nourish and activate your inner herbalist so you can be your own herbal expert.

In our first session, we learned how to “listen” to the messages of plant’s tastes. In session two, we learned about simples and how to make effective water-based herbal remedies. The third session helped us distinguish safe nourishing and tonifying herbs from the more dangerous stimulating and sedating herbs. Our fourth session focused on poisons in herbs and herbal tinctures, which we made and then collected into an herbal Medicine Chest.

In this, our fifth session, we will find out how to help ourselves and our families with herbal vinegars, one of the green blessings of the Wise Woman Way.

Why Use herbal Vinegars?

herbal vinegars are an unstoppable combination: they marry the healing and nutritional properties of apple cider vinegar with the mineral and antioxidant richness of health-protective green herbs and wild roots. herbal vinegars are tasty medicine, enriching and enlivening our food while building health from the inside out.

herbal vinegars are far better for the bones and the heart than soy beverages. They have a reputation for banishing grey hair and wrinkles. Sprayed in the armpits, herbal vinegars are highly effective deodorants. As a hair rinse (try rosemary or lavender vinegar) they add luster and eliminate split ends.

Anything vinegar can do, including clean the kitchen, herbal vinegars can do better.

Vinegars Seek Minerals

Minerals are important for the health and proper functioning of our bones, our heart and blood vessels, our nerves, our brain (especially memory), our immune system, and our hormonal glands. No wonder lack of minerals can lead to chronic problems and getting more can make a big difference in health in a few weeks. One of the best ways to get more minerals – besides drinking nourishing herbal infusions and eating well-cooked leafy greens – is to use herbal vinegars.

Vinegar & Your Bones

It is not true that ingesting vinegar will erode your bones. Adding vinegar to your food actually helps build bones because it frees up minerals from the vegetables you eat and increases the ability of the stomach to digest minerals. Adding a splash of vinegar to cooked greens is a classic trick of old ladies who want to be spry and flexible when they’re ancient old ladies. (Maybe your granny already taught you this?) In fact, a spoonful of vinegar on your broccoli or kale or dandelion greens increases the calcium you get by one-third. All by itself, apple cider vinegar is said to help build bones; when enriched with minerals from herbs, I think of it as better than calcium pills.

Vinegar & Candida

Some people worry that eating vinegar will upset the balance of gut flora and contribute to an overgrowth of candida yeast in the intestines. Some people have been told to avoid vinegar altogether. My experience has led me to believe that herbal vinegars help heal those with candida overgrowth, perhaps because they’re so mineral rich. I’ve worked with women who have suffered for years and kept to a strict “anti-candida” diet with little improvement, and seen them get better fast when they add nourishing herbal vinegars (and fermented foods such as sauerkraut, miso, and yogurt) to their diets.

Making herbal Vinegars

Fill any size jar with fresh-cut aromatic herbs: leaves, stalks, flowers, fruits, roots, and even nuts can be used. For best results and highest mineral content, be sure the jar is well filled and chop the herb finely.

Pour room-temperature vinegar into the jar until it is full. Cover jar: A plastic screw-on lid, several layers of plastic or wax paper held on with a rubber band, or a cork are the best covers. Avoid metal lids – or protect them well with plastic – as vinegar will corrode them.

Label the jar with the name of the herb and the date. Put it some place away from direct sunlight, though it doesn’t have to be in the dark, and someplace that isn’t too hot, but not too cold either. A kitchen cupboard is fine, but choose one that you open a lot so you remember to use your vinegar, which will be ready in six weeks.

You can decant your vinegar into a beautiful serving container, or use it right from the jar you made it in.

Which Vinegar?

I use regular pasteurized apple cider vinegar from the supermarket as the menstrum for my herbal vinegars. I avoid white vinegar. Malt vinegar, rice vinegar, and wine vinegar can be used but they are more expensive and may overpower the flavor of the herbs.

Apple cider vinegar has been used as a health-giving agent for centuries. Hippocrates, father of medicine, is said to have used only two remedies: honey and apple cider vinegar. Some of the many benefits of apple cider vinegar include: better digestion, reduction of cholesterol, improvements in blood pressure, prevention/care of osteoporosis, normalization of thyroid/metabolic functioning, possible reduction of cancer risk, and lessening of wrinkles and grey hair.

Notes for herbal Vinegar Makers

{   Collect jars of different sizes for your vinegars. I especially like baby food jars, mustard jars, olive jars, peanut butter jars and individual juice jars. Look for plastic lids.

{   The wider the mouth of the jar, the easier it will be to remove the plant material when you’re done.

{   Always fill jar to the top with plant material and vinegar; never fill a jar only part way.

{   Really fill the jar. This will take far more herb or root than you would think. How much? With leaves and stems, make a comfortable mattress for a fairy: not too tight; not too loose. With roots, fill your jar to within a thumb’s width of the top.

{   After decanting your vinegar into a beautiful jar, add a spring of whole herb. Pretty.

My Favorite herbal Vinegar

Pick the needles of white pine on a sunny day. Make herbal vinegar with them. Inhale deeply the scent of the forest. I call this my “homemade balsamic vinegar.”

Using Your Vinegars

herbal vinegars taste so good, you’ll want to use them frequently. Regular use boosts the nutrient level of your diet with very little effort and virtually no expense.

{   Pour a spoonful or more on beans and grains as a condiment.

{   Use them in salad dressings.

{   Add them to cooked greens.

{   Season stir-fries with them.

{   Look for soups that are vinegar friendly, like borscht.

{   Substitute herbal vinegar for plain vinegar in any recipe.

{   Put a big spoonful in a glass of water and drink it. Try it sweetened with blackstrap molasses for a real mineral jolt. Many older women swear this “coffee substitute” prevents and eases their arthritic pains.

Coming Up

In our next sessions we will learn more about herbal medicine making, with a focus on oils, explore the difference between fixing disease and promoting health, learn how to apply the three traditions of healing, and how to take charge of our own health care with the six steps of healing.

Experiment Number One

Test vinegar’s ability to absorb minerals. Put a fresh bone in a jar and completely cover it with vinegar. What happens? Does the bone become pliable and rubbery? How long does it take? Will eating vinegar dissolve your bones? Only if you take off your skin and sit in it for weeks!

Experiment Number Two

Make eggshell vinegar. Fill a jar one-quarter full of vinegar. Drop crushed eggshell into it. What happens? Does the vinegar foam? How long does it take? Eggshells are exceptionally rich in bone-building minerals. Can you taste the calcium in this vinegar? Add some eggshell to your other vinegars if you wish to increase their ability to keep your bones strong.

Experiment Number Three

Make four or more vinegars with the same plant, using different types of vinegar, including both pasteurized and unpasteurized apple cider vinegar. (For the others, use rice vinegar, malt vinegar, wine vinegar, or even white vinegar, but not umeboshi vinegar.)

Taste your vinegars daily for a week, then weekly for five more weeks. You may, if you wish, decant some of your vinegars for use after six weeks. But you may also wish to keep observing them as they age (for years, if you wish). I have some vinegars which are more than thirty years old and still in good shape. Note which stay edible the longest, and what happens to those that become inedible.

Experiment Number Four

Buy a quart or more of unpasteurized apple cider vinegar. Use two cups to make several small herbal vinegars: one with roots, one with leaves, and one with flowers. Boil the other two cups. Make one herbal vinegar with the boiling hot vinegar. Make another with the boiled vinegar after it has cooled. Continue as in experiment number three.

Further study

1. Redo experiment number two using different kinds of eggshells – white ones and brown ones, store-bought and farm-bought, from caged birds and free-range birds. Can you see any differences? Taste or smell any differences?
2. Make vinegars at different times of the year and compare them.

Advanced work

{   Unpasteurized vinegar can form a “mother.” In a jar filled with herb and vinegar, the vinegar mother usually grows across the top of the herb, and looking rather like a damp, thin pancake. Kombucha is a vinegar mother. Does your local health food store sell mothers? Kombucha? What is a vinegar mother? Is it harmful?

{   What is an ionic form of a mineral?

{   What is a mineral salt?

{   How do our bodies take up and utilize minerals?

Plants That Make Exceptionally Good-Tasting herbal Vinegars

Apple mint (Mentha sp.) leaves, stalks
Bee balm (Monarda didyma) flowers, leaves, stalks
Bergamot (Monarda sp.) flowers, leaves, stalks
Burdock (Arctium lappa) roots
Catnip (Nepeta cataria) leaves, stalks
Chicory (Cichorium intybus) leaves, roots
Chives and especially chive blossoms
Dandelion (Taraxacum off.) flower buds, leaves, roots
Dill (Anethum graveolens) herb, seeds
Fennel (Foeniculum vulgare) herb, seeds
Garlic (Allium sativum) bulbs, greens, flowers
Garlic mustard (Alliaria officinalis) leaves and roots
Goldenrod (Solidago sp.) flowers
Ginger (Zingiber off.) and Wild ginger (Asarum canadensis) roots
Lavender (Lavendula sp.) flowers, leaves
Mugwort (emisia vulgaris) new growth leaves and roots
Orange mint (Mentha sp.) leaves, stalks
Orange peel, organic only
Peppermint (Mentha piperata and etc.) leaves, stalks
Perilla (Shiso) (Agastache) leaves, stalks
Rosemary (Rosmarinus off.) leaves, stalks
Spearmint (Mentha spicata) leaves, stalks
Thyme (Thymus sp.) leaves, stalks
White pine (Pinus strobus) needles
Yarrow (Achilllea millifolium) flowers and leaves

Weedy herbal Calcium Supplement

Use one or more of the following plants to make an herbal vinegar that can reverse and counter osteoporosis. Dose is 2-4 tablespoons daily.
Amaranth (Amaranthus retroflexus) leaves
Cabbage leaves
Chickweed (Stellaria media) whole herb
Comfrey (Symphytum officinalis) leaves
Cronewort/Mugwort (emisia vulgaris) young leaves
Dandelion (Taraxacum off.) leaves and root
Kale leaves
Lambsquarter (Chenopodium album) leaves
Mallow (Malva neglecta) leaves
Mint leaves of all sorts, especially sage, motherwort, lemon balm, lavender, peppermint
Nettle (Urtica dioica) leaves
Parsley (Petroselinum sativum) leaves
Plantain (Plantago majus) leaves
Raspberry (Rubus species) leaves
Red clover (Trifolium pratense) blossoms
Violet (Viola odorata) leaves
Yellow dock (Rumex crispus and other species) roots

herbal Vinegars Where You Eat the Pickled Plants Too

Burdock
Chicory
Dandelion
Purslane
Yellow Dock
Rosehips
Raspberries/blackberries

Study with Susun Weed in the convenience of your home! Choose from three Correspondence Courses: Green Allies, Spirit & Practice of the Wise Woman Tradition, and Green Witch – includes audio/video tapes, books, assignments, special mailings, plus personal time.  Learn more at http://www.susunweed.com or write to:

Tags: herbs

• Herbal

MoraRavenCall September, 2011

Relaxing Summer Tonic

You will need 1tsp. of each of the following herbs:

Lavender, Chamomile, and Jasmine

You will also need about 1 cup of lemon juice.

Bring approximately ¾ of a gallon of water to a boil and add the herbs.  Remove the pot from the heat and steep the herbs for a minimum of 5 minutes (longer if you want a stronger flavor).  Strain the mixture and place in a pitcher, add the lemon juice and ½ to 1 cup of sugar or other desired sweetener and stir.  Place in the refrigerator to cool.

Serve over ice and enjoy.

Madame Mora’s herbal

This class is designed to show the practical application of herbs to assist with everyday needs.  The lessons printed will not outline “magical” uses for the herbs, but, if questions on this topic rise, please feel free to ask.

Also, please remember, the information in this class is a look at herbal therapies that may show promise as adjunctive treatments to conventional medical approaches, and is not meant to give specific recommendations or advise for the treatment of a specific illness, nor is it intended to be a replacement for good medical diagnosis and treatment.

Tags: Herbal, herbs, tonic

• Classes

Rayneschild September, 2011

I love herbs, as most witches do.  They give so much and ask so little, and under the right circumstances, can these bad boys pack a wallop!  In this type of venue our readers can be beginners, or seasoned veterans so it’s a challenge to write something that will hopefully have something for everyone.

There are different methods of working with herbs, but before you begin trying different uses I cannot emphasize safety enough!  If you don’t already have one, invest in a good herbal reference book.  There are 2 by Scott Cunningham, Magical

Methods of working with Herbs

Infusion: An infusion, or potion is basically soaking herbs in hot water to be drunk, put into a bath, wiped on surfaces, sprinkled around, and applied to the body.  If you have an old coffee maker that you won’t be making coffee in, the paper filter does a great job of straining the herbs, and heats the water quickly.

* For every one cup of water, use one teaspoon of herb.

*  Cover the infusion so no steam evaporates and let it stand about 10 minutes

NOTE: Be absolutely certain that any herbs used in this manner are safe!!!

Bath: Bathing in herbs is a simple way to utilize their power.  Either use a cheesecloth sachet, (half to one cup of herb) or a strained infusion to put into the bath.

Ointment:  An ointment is made by using lard or vegetable shortening, which smells way better than lard.  I have experimented and used coconut oil, it is solid contrary to the name, and have used vaseline.  Wander the cosmetic aisles and I’m sure the possibilities are endless.  Apply the ointment to the body, usually to the pulse points.

Sachet:  Also known as charm bags, mojo bags, or gris-gris bags.  You can either carry them personally or place them in a particular location.  You can use either a small pouch or bag and add the appropriate herb, or mixture of herbs, or you can simply lay the herbs in the center of a piece of cloth, or handkerchief and tie it closed.  Usually a tablespoon of herbs is sufficient

This brings us to herbal incense which is burned on a charcoal block.  Just as the coffemaker is a tool of convenience, if you grind a lot of herbs, a coffee grinder works well.  I recently received a helpful tip from my niece however, if you’ll be using it alot make sure to get one with multiple speeds, the simple on/off variety can’t take the strain.

The simplest way to use herb power is to light a candle of your choice and sprinkle  the herbs around the base.

Be brave, use blends that appeal to you, see what kind of wild herbs you have in your area, be certain they’re safe then add them.  If you’re lucky enough to live where you can get lily of the valley flowers and mint mix it with coconut oil and you’ll have a skin cream that blows the high dollar brands out of the water!!!

Tags: bath, herbs, ointments, sachet, tinctures

• Crafts

MoraRavenCall July, 2011

Relaxing Sugar Scrub

For this recipe you will need 20oz of granulated white sugar, 4oz oil (olive, mineral, etc…), and the essential (can substitute scented) oils of lavender, chamomile, and rose.

Take half the sugar and half the carrier oil and mix, once mixed add 8 drops each of the lavender, chamomile, and rose oils and mix again.  Then take the remaining half of the sugar and carrier oils and mix them with the already mixed portion and add an additional 8 drops each of the flower scents and mix another time.

At this point, smell the mixture and add more scent if desired.

Once complete use in the tub or shower on particularly rough patches of skin or all over to exfoliate.

Madame Mora’s herbal

This class is designed to show the practical application of herbs to assist with everyday needs.  The lessons printed will not outline “magical” uses for the herbs, but, if questions on this topic rise, please feel free to ask.

Also, please remember, the information in this class is a look at herbal therapies that may show promise as adjunctive treatments to conventional medical approaches, and is not meant to give specific recommendations or advise for the treatment of a specific illness, nor is it intended to be a replacement for good medical diagnosis and treatment.

Tags: herbs, recipe, scrub

• Classes

OSusun S. Weed July, 2011

Be Your Own herbal Expert

Part 1

herbal medicine is the medicine of the people. It is simple, safe, effective, and free. Our ancestors knew how to use an enormous variety of plants for health and well-being. Our neighbors around the world continue to use local plants for healing and health maintenance.  You can too.

Learning About Herbs

Information on herbs and their uses has been passed down to us in many ways: through stories, in books, set to music, and incorporated into our everyday speech. Learning about herbs is fun, fascinating, and easy to do no matter where you live or what your circumstances. It is an adventure that makes use of all of your senses. Reading about herbal medicine is fascinating, and a great way to learn how others have used plants. But the real authorities are the plants themselves. They speak to us through their smells, tastes, forms, and colors.

Anyone who is willing to take the time to get to know the plants around them will discover a wealth of health-promoting green allies. What stops us? Fear. We fear that we will use the wrong plant. We fear poisoning ourselves. We fear the plants themselves.

These fears are wise. But they need not keep us from using the abundant remedies of nature.  A few simple guidelines can protect you and help you make sense of herbal medicine. This series of short articles will offer you easy-to-remember rules for using herbs simply and safely. When you have completed all eight parts of this series, you will be using herbs confidently and successfully to keep yourself and your loved ones whole/healthy/holy.

Survival is a Matter of Taste

Virtually all plants contain poisons. After all, they don’t want to be eaten!  Because we have evolved eating plants, we have the capacity to neutralize or remove (through preparation or digestion) their poisons. Not all poisons kill, and even poisons that are deadly often need to be taken in quantities far larger than can easily be obtained from foods. (Apple seeds contain a lethal poison but it takes a quart of them to cause death.)

Our senses of taste and smell are registered in the part of the brain that maintains respiration and circulation – in other words, the survival center. Plants (but not mushrooms) advertise their poisons by tasting bad or smelling foul. Of the four primary kinds of poisons found in plants – alkaloids, glycosides, resins, and essential oils – the first two always taste bitter or cause a variety of noxious reactions on the oral tissues, and the last two usually do, especially when removed from the plant or concentrated.

Sometimes the taste of the poison in a plant is hidden by large amounts of sweet-tasting starch. Fortunately, human saliva contains an enzyme that breaks down these carbohydrates, exposing the nasty taste of the poison. Since even tiny amounts of some poisons can have large effects, for safety sake, take your time when tasting.

Safety First

Because our sense of taste protects us against poisonous plants, it is always best to take herbs in a form that allows one to taste them. Consuming just one plant at a time, with as little preparation as possible, gives us the greatest opportunity to taste poisons and is therefore the safest way to use herbs.

One herb at a time is a “simple.” When we ingest a simple herb – raw, cooked as a vegetable, brewed fresh or dried in water as a tea or infusion, steeped in vinegar or honey, dried and used as a condiment – we bring into play several million years of plant wisdom collected in our genes. When we ingest many plants together, or concentrate their natural poisons by tincturing, distilling, or standardizing, we increase the possibility of harm. Powdering herbs and putting them in capsules is one of the most dangerous ways to use them, especially those containing poisons. For ultimate risk, play with essential oils; they are far removed from the plant, very concentrated, and as little as one-quarter ounce can kill.

Safety Second, Too

In the next installments we will continue to learn how to use herbs simply and safely. We will explore nourishing and tonifying herbs, the difference between fixing disease and promoting health, how to apply the three traditions of healing, and how to take charge of your own health care with the six steps of healing.

Experiment Number One

You will need the following plants, all of which contain poisons that you can taste: a head of lettuce (taste the leaves and the core separately), some black or green tea (unbrewed), a fresh dandelion leaf, strong chamomile tea (steep it overnight), a can of asparagus, some fresh mint, a spoonful of mustard seeds, and a bottle of vanilla extract.

Approach tasting a plant as you would tasting a wine. Begin by inhaling the aroma. Release the bouquet by squeezing the plant until your fingers are moist (or chew briefly and spit into your hand). Do you feel enticed, repelled, or neutral? Does your mouth water? Does your throat clench? Observe how you react to the smell. Does it sting your eyes? Irritate your nasal tissues? Do you want to taste it?

We do not gulp our wine, nor do we merely wet our tongues; for best effect, taste and smell a reasonably large piece, but don’t stuff your mouth. As you chew, move the plant material around in your mouth. Roll it around with your tongue. Make contact with it for a full minute but DO NOT SWALLOW. No, no, spit it upon the ground, or into your hand, or the sink, or wherever you can, but do not swallow. SPIT IT OUT.

What do you feel now? In your stomach? Your throat? Your head and nose?  What is your gut feeling? What sensations accompany the taste of this plant?

It is best to wait until the previous taste is completely gone before going on to the next plant. If you are doing advanced work with wild plants, wait at least a day before you use or consume the plant in case you have a delayed reaction to some component.

Experiment Number Two

Taste as in experiment one, but use these inedible (poisonous) parts of common foods: lemon inner rind, apple seeds, rhubarb leaves, lettuce root, the inner soft pit of a peach.

Experiment Number Three

Taste as in experiment one, these poisonous plants (fresh or dried): wormwood leaf, goldenseal root, yellow dock root, Echinacea root, eucalyptus leaf, motherwort leaf.

Experiment Number Four

Aromatic plants are rich in essential oils. We often use them to season and preserve food. In small quantity, these oils are not harmful, but concentrated, they threaten the liver, kidneys, and life itself. Smell and taste, as in experiment one, as many aromatic plants as you can: thyme, rosemary, oregano, lavender, sage, orange peel, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg. Brew strong teas (steep overnight) of these plants and taste.  Can you see, smell, or taste more essential oils? Smell or taste one drop of the extracted essential oil of any of these plants.

Further study

1. What is an alkaloid? Medicinal plants often contain groups of alkaloids. Name seven plants rich in alkaloids (specify the part); then name at least three of the alkaloids in each plant.
2. What are glycosides? Name at least four glycosides and describe the effect each has.  Name seven plants rich in glycosides; specify the part of the plant and the kind of glycoside.
3. What are resins? Name four or more plants (specify part) rich in resins.
4. What are essential oils? Name a dozen or more plants rich in essential oils (specify part).
5. What is the difference between a poison and a medicine? Are all drugs poisons?

Advanced work

²  Give the botanical name (genus and species) for each plant you named in the further study section.

²  Taste a variety of plants that grow around you. Warning: It is possible to experience uncomfortable or harmful effects from this experiment. A book on poisonous plants can reassure you that the plants you taste will not kill you. It is best not to put plants such as poison ivy or poison oak in your mouth. DO NOT TASTE HOUSEPLANTS.

Tags: herbs

• Herbal

MoraRavenCall June, 2011

Relaxing Facial Steam

For this you will need the flower and or leaves of the following 4 herbs:

Chamomile

Lavender

Peppermint

Rosemary

Put 1/8 cup of each herb and approximately 4 cups of water in a pot and bring to a boil.  Remove from the stove and pour into a glass bowl.  Take a towel and place it over your head and place your head 6-8in. above the steam.  Allow your head to remain this distance above the steam for no more than 5 minutes.  Rinse your face with cool water and apply a skin moisturizer if you feel it necessary.

Caution: It is not recommended you do this more than 1-2 times a week and no longer than 5 minutes at a time.

Madame Mora’s herbal

This class is designed to show the practical application of herbs to assist with everyday needs.  The lessons printed will not outline “magical” uses for the herbs, but, if questions on this topic rise, please feel free to ask.

Also, please remember, the information in this class is a look at herbal therapies that may show promise as adjunctive treatments to conventional medical approaches, and is not meant to give specific recommendations or advise for the treatment of a specific illness, nor is it intended to be a replacement for good medical diagnosis and treatment.

Tags: facial, Herbal, herbs

• Classes

Tansy Firedragon April, 2011

Garlic Mustard

(Alliaria petiolata)

Garlic Mustard grows throughout the UK and in most of Europe.  In the USA it is abundant in the mid western and north eastern states, but can also be found as far south as Kentucky and North Carolina.

In early spring, the light green leaves start to show in the hedgerows and woodland.  The plants can vary in height from 5-8 inches up to 3ft.  The broad, heart shaped leaves are toothed, and at the base of the plant grow on fairly long stalks.  Near to the top the leaf stalks are shorter and the leaves have prominent veins.  The flowers have four tiny white petals that grow at the top of the plant in a cluster of tight green buds and white flowers.  Much smaller unopened flower heads spring from the angle of the leaf stalks and main stem.

Common names are: Hedge Garlic, Sauce-all-Alone, Jack-by-the-Hedge and Poor Man’s Mustard. When bruised the whole plant has a smell of onion rather than garlic.

In 1657 William Coles wrote that is was eaten by many country people as sauce to their salt fish, and helped well to digest the crudities and other crude humours that are engendered by the eating thereof.

Early herbalists used the leaves for dropsy and to induce sweating.  The herbalist Sir John Hill recommended that they should be boiled with honey to make a syrup as a remedy for coughs and hoarseness.  The leaves were also believed to have antiseptic properties and were applied as dressings to open sores and ulcers.

Eaten as a fresh seasonal food it is good for the digestion and as a spring tonic for the whole body.

Sometimes you can find garlic mustard with exceptionally large leaves. These may have large, whitish, fleshy taproots, which taste like horseradish. They are good from late autumn to early spring, before the flower stalks appear. Use them like horseradish, grated into vinegar, as a condiment.

The pungent, mildly bitter basal leaves are good from late autumn to early spring, the plants seem to become more bitter as they mature. However the arrowhead shaped stem leaves are more pungent and less bitter in the spring along with the tasty white flowers, than the basal leaves.

Use garlic mustard raw in salads, mixed with more mild greens. It’s also good steamed, simmered, or lightly fried. It can also be used in sauces. Cook no longer than five minutes, or the leaves will become mushy.

Garlic Mustard Pesto

4 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons garlic mustard taproot

¾ cup parsley

1 cup garlic mustard leaves

1 cup basil

2 cups pine nuts

½ cup stock

1 ¼ cups olive oil

Chop the garlic and the garlic mustard roots finely, preferably in a food processor.

Add the parsley, garlic, garlic mustard leaves and basil and chop.

Add the pine nuts and chop coarsely.

Add the olive oil and the stock gradually and process until you create a coarse paste.

Magickal Properties: (use as you would garlic)

Gender: Masculine

Planet: Mars

Element: Fire

Powers: Protection, healing, exorcism, lust, anti theft

Tags: garlic mustard, Herbal, herbs

• Herbal