And Now For Some Herbalism: Warding Off the Modern Plagues

Happy Lammas!  First harvest! 


It's Animals Take All over here, or nearly so.  I did manage to get a big basket of peaches out of the front yard tree which was loaded.  Even at the Resource Center, serious devastation.  But more on that in another report.


So is anyone getting whupped up into a frenzy over Ebola?  A veritable modern day Black Death it is.  Different critter.  This Ebola is a virus, whereas the Black Death of the Middle Ages was a bacteria strain Yersinia Pestis.  It also is being coaxed into making a come back.  And don't let's forget about MERS, Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome, yet another potently deadly debutante on the pandemic dance stage.

Regardless of what opinions you may hold as to just WHY all these nasty things are occurring all at once, the fact of the matter is, they seem to be in process to really be let loose.  We can bicker over whodunnit if we survive, okay?  And since tinctures take some time, and availability of botanicals is not a given, best get on it, especially since this is elderberry season, one of the world's premier anti-virals.



The following is what I'm planning to have around in the event of any kind of viral or bacterial pandemic.  It's my own personal pathway of choice to maintaining wellness.  I'm not advocating it for anyone else, please do for yourself as you see fit.  I intend to stay well.  Here's how.  Included are some interesting links for further edification.

Kristine's Herbal / Nutritional Arsenal for Modern Plague

Disclaimer:  
Not to be taken as Medical Advice.  

See yer doctor if you think it will help you, of course. 

If you don't, read on.

It is my opinion as an herbalist and all around health oriented person that prevention is the name of the game here.  

Holistic Prevention.  Build the immune system now by reducing sugar, GMO's, refined products that rob nutrients rather than provide them.  Get rid of sodas, cut down on alcohol and smoking.  Eat probiotics, take adequate rest, exercise, fresh air and sunshine, good nutrition daily.  Build the immune system, there is no substitute.  

And then at the first sign of feeling low, I always back off and go into self care. For anything resembling a virus accompanied by high fever, I'd reach for:


1)  Elderberry Tincture, HoT FeVeR BLenD -- Elderberry, Elder Flower, Boneset, Horehound, Mullein, Turkey Tail Mushroom  in Everclear  (anti viral, boost the immune system, bring down fever, respiratory support)

2)  CooL DoWn TeA BLenD (astringent, cooling, purifying) -- Blackberry Leaf, Shepherd's Purse, Peppermint, Mullein, Roasted Dandelion Root, served room temperature or chilled with a generous spoonful or 2 of:

3) High Vitamin (C especially) Fruit Sugar -- dried pineapple, dried manzanita berries, dried blackberries, dried cranberries, dried Peruvian Goldberries dried organic Meyer Lemon and organic Orange ground to a fine powder.



4)  Totally boost gut flora with homemade organic Broccoli Kimchi made with lots of garlic, turmeric, no ginger. This to be eaten as much as possible to build gut flora, help blood clot and boost immune system.  I would avoid one of my personal favorite wellness spices - fresh ginger -- as it is so warming and can easily bring on menstrual bleeding for women close to their cycle.  Best not to encourage any excess heat or bleeding...  







5)  Stay hydrated and alkalized, make smoothies with frozen banana, pineapple, yogurt or kombucha (no ginger) and whatever else might be appealing under conditions of nausea to maintain some semblance of  adequate nutrition.  Try adding almonds or walnuts.

6)  Diet:  Miso soup with fresh chopped kale, parsely, chives and broccoli kimchi dropped in; brown rice with dried shitake and reishi mushrooms, burdock root, codonopsis root to boost immune system; take some of any of the acetums every day.


7)  Walk barefoot on the ground for a little while every day, get fresh air and sunlight.  Lots of sleep as needed.  Stay away from crowds.

Grounding-key-mechanism-body-maintains-health/


8)  I plan to avoid their frankendrugs, vaccines and whatever snake oil they market, for high price or guinea pig experimentation, like the very plague it is.  If you don't believe me, watch what happens to people who take their jab.   Some of that crap actually brings on bleeding!  Do we need that?  I don't.

Sorry, the veil is irrevocably ripped for me, I see nothing but the darkest evil resembling NOTHING of healing coming out of that direction.  Who profits?

Monsanto’s Vaccine Will Kill More Than the Ebola Itself


9)  For keeping the air and house clean and purified, brew up a big batch of eucalyptus - lavender water, it will cleanse the air and all household surfaces can be wiped down with it.  Open the windows!

10)  No fear, elderberry is here.   Staying out of fear is also very important, as a fearful attitude brings one's defenses down. Those who have experience with Elderberry and know of it's efficacy can be confident that it works on the worst of the worst.  Elderberry doesn't give a shit if it's Ebola or Swine Flu, it knows what to do in the presence of viral infections.  


The key is to catch it in time before the system is overwhelmed by fast-moving symptoms, and to build the immune system beforehand.   

11)  To maintain purity, take herbal baths with cooling, antiseptic, tissue firming, astringent herbs like aloe, peppermint, comfrey, mullein, blackberry leaf, eucalyptus, borage and calendula, not too hot.

12)  Prepare some things now while in season:  Pick the flowering oregano stalks, the tall leggy basil, the profusely blossoming savory and dry them for a great herbal acetum blend.  Access to Calamint, which is in the Oregano family and is something like a minty oregano, is also a great addition and purported to be a wonderful cold and flu herb.  Pick bath, tea and wash herbs like mullein, comfrey, lavender and mints now if they go away in winter in your climate.


13)  Food as Medicine, Acetums are First Class!!  Combine these dried herbs plus fresh garlic, a small onion, mustard seed, hot pepper, & fennel seed for example with Bragg Apple Cider Vinegar to make a first class Italian Herbs Acetum that can be used on steamed greens, potatoes, as a base for salad dressing, in soups & stir fries.  It's delicious and has become a staple in my kitchen.

Greetings from the
Great Mullein Patch

My next herbal workshop will feature decanting and working with a variety of Elderberry wellness products.  Class will include handout, samples of an elderberry tincture, a glycerite and an acetum; we will make some kind of new maceration using elderberry, either in ACV or Everclear; plus with any luck the lunch will feature broccoli kimchi and kombucha.   



The workshop date is yet to be announced but will be set a month after I make the above mentioned products.




Be well and Happy Harvest!
Kristine Lavender Love

PS:  And by the way, deer don't eat pineapples.  Opossums do however.

Can you stand it?  My volunteer pineapple, growin' from a sprouted core.

Don't take my word for it, here are some links for further research, be you so inclined:


Elderberry Extract: Nature's "Tamiflu"

Elderberry Extract Outperforms Medication By Inhibiting Growth of Pathogenic Bacteria By Up To 99 Percent

Nature’s flu shot

Pineapple found to be five times more effective than cough syrup - NaturalNews.com

Pineapple Juice Is 5 Times More Effective Than Cough Syrup


Could Garlic Replace Antibiotics as a Major Bacteria Fighter? ~ RiseEarth

Garlic kills bubonic plague and other pathogen-based disease epidemics « Set You Free News

Garlic Soup Made With 52 Cloves of Garlic Can Defeat Colds, Flu and Even Norovirus « Set You Free News

Survival Properties of Garlic and Apple Cider Vinegar | Survival Sherpa

Cold Kicker Remedy (acetum recipe)

Herbs destroy mycoplasma, disabling deadly opportunistic infections :: The JB Bardot Archives


High vitamin C dosage outperforms antibiotics | Natural Health 365


Ready Nutrition » Blog Archive How Medicinal Mushrooms Can Benefit Your Immune System » Ready Nutrition


Why Probiotics are Essential if You are Taking Antibiotics


Avoiding-complications-and-death-from-Influenza


Kombucha Tea Detoxes The Liver And Provides Life-giving Nourishment To Cure Numerous Diseases :: The JB Bardot Archives

And now for some Herbalism: Elderberry Growin' by the Lion's Gate

I love this time of year.  Lion’s Gate..... When the Sun moves into the sign of Leo, and for a time rises with the Dog Star Sirius.  What can I say I’m an ancient Egyptian, among other things.

It’s time for the esteemed Elderberry, Sambucus nigra.  Not to be confused with red or other varieties, this is the Black Elderberry that grows so well here in the Sierra landscape as well as many other locations world wide.  This plant has a LONG history of beneficial use.  It’s such a blessing to find them growing around in Calaveras County.  



I actually have a bush.  Well this is embarrassing. Second year in a row it’s happened, too.  It was LOADED with blossoms this spring.  I picked and picked -- got a whole gallon jar full and enough to tincture.  I could have picked more.









So I remembered last year -- it had been loaded with blossoms and then they all dried up.  They didn’t make it to maturity as in other years.  



I don’t recall what I was doing for watering that area when the bush was small, or not producing, or when I wasn’t picking them for whatever reason.   I know it has produced.  But now the last years when I’ve really wanted a good crop, I’ve gotten nothing -- as again, it dried up before I realized.  

This is unthinkable to me, the bush faces my living room window, I can see it from the house.  I just didn’t think it would require water so soon.  And I had watered it once already.  They are supposed to go totally without water.  I see them growing out in the countryside.  Obviously they’ve found a moist-ish spot if they are making it under conditions of no water.

Well, thankfully I have a friend who has them.  The husband of one of my co-workers drove me out there today and I picked somewhat of a bagful. There weren’t many in reach on his monster tree either.  Birds had gotten some, and many weren’t ready.  Oh well I have enough.  I still have tincture from last year.








What will be done with it this year?  

Oh, fun fun experimental products based on several years’ worth of experimenting with good results.   There will be an Elderberry, Elder Flower, Horehound and Boneset tincture blend for virus accompanied by fever symptoms, as in the recent MERS virus circulating.  They say it might be air born, so that one could move around quite a bit.  

There will also be some kind of acetum featuring elderberry, garlic, turkey tail mushrooms and other interesting savory ingredients for boosting the immune system.  As mentioned I already made and pressed out a pure Elder Flower tincture in Everclear, which hopefully will be good for seasonal allergy relief as well as colds and flu.  

While I’m at it I (or we) better make an Elderberry glycerite.  Some of these things will be made in the company of my lovely herb friend ladies at our next workshop and some I will pre-make in order to decant and try at the workshop.  Samples to take home are always a feature of things we decant.  It’s a kick, and then I get the feedback.  

With the glycerite it might be better to tincture the berries while they still have a slight bit of moisture in them, so we’ll decant it later in class.  Everyone will love that.  Vegetable Glycerin is sweet so that should be quite interesting!

I’m also looking to dry as many as possible for different uses -- tea, maybe trying it in a candy later this winter.  Herbalism is just so darn interesting, efficacious, fun and fantastic, I’m hooked!!

So if you’re looking to work with one of THE BEST anti-virals the plant world has to offer, keep on top of Elderberry’s fruiting cycle.  These things come and go, it’s part of the challenge and the wonderfulness of working with the seasons.


Black Elderberry: Natural Cold and Flu Treatment

Elderberry Extract Outperforms Medication By Inhibiting Growth of Pathogenic Bacteria By Up To 99 Percent
Lion’s Gate Blessings

PS:  I nearly grinned my ears off at Soren Dreier’s report   
Tales from the Morph ii
that those having power animals are starting to show up interdimensionally as such -- Arrrrrghhhhhhhhhhhhhf!

And Now For Some Herbalism: Peppermint Tincture

I’m making Peppermint Tincture today.  Why?  Oh, because I want to see what I can do with it.  I’ve been thinking about it for awhile now, and since there is so much beautiful lush peppermint this year, now’s the time.  Carpe Herbe, I always say (can be loosely translated as Seize the Joint Plant)

So Peppermint.  Great herb for tea, on it’s own or in any number of blends. Wonderful for the digestion and the nervous system.  Delicious hot or cold. You have to work to kill it, not that I have any problems growing plants.  I love the mints, love to just let them go.  They stop where the water ends, so no problem to contain them.

I wanted to make a peppermint tincture for a couple of reasons, one being just to see how it does in the process on its own.   I’m going to put it in Everclear, as this will be mainly for internal use.  Just now as I prepare to get started I’m pondering and researching fresh vs. dried as I have both.

Each has its uses and my preference varies from purpose to purpose and extraction medium to extraction medium.

I am somewhat leaning towards using dried herb because I want a very VERY potent extraction.  Depending on what comes of this, I may re-tincture this one a second time to get a double strength -- a process I’ve only done once, inadvertently and not for that purpose.  

So what would I do with double strength peppermint tincture?  Use it as a digestive aid in some way, meaning Take It.  I might try it topically as well  by adding it to a creme.  Use it as a flavoring additive, especially with chocolate. It could be great in alcoholic drinks, not that I’m particularly interested in such things.  Certainly it will find its place in cold and flu remedies.   I'm thinking it might also be great in a coconut oil-baking soda-sea salt tooth creme. 


Give me time, I will come up with a plethora of uses.  If I’m wanting to have it on hand, then better make it to have it on hand for next winter when I will need it and there’s no peppermint growing.

Okay --  Here is some research that I will pay attention to.  Dang I love the Internet.  Fresh it is.

From http://www.seedsforchangewellness.com/Articles/ArticleHomemadeMedicineHerbalTinctures.html

Fresh Versus Dried Herbs

Fresh herbs and dried herbs generally require slightly different handling. Because fresh herbs contain more water than their dried counterparts, they tend to require higher amounts of alcohol in the extraction process. For example, peppermint, spearmint and lemon balm are best extracted fresh with pure ethanol, whereas these same herbs, when dried, require only 75 percent alcohol. Chamomile likes 75 percent alcohol for a fresh tincture and 50 percent when tincturing the dried flower. It is also important to break down as much of the cell structure as possible as a means of increasing the surface area of extraction. This can be accomplished by chopping the plant material or by putting the herb into a blender.

I've got PILES of mint out there, in a whole pallet of varieties --

Peppermint

Chocolate Mint

Best mint for tea!

Spearmint

Lemon Balm

Pennyroyal

In the Aftermath of the Maha

Maha.


What a booger.


We are really really mad at the Maha over here. The big lunk.


Well my confidence in the safe return of all my cats soon eroded as it became clear that 2 definitely weren't coming back.






Soon thereafter, I found tan colored fur bits over by the barn entrance that clearly looked like Bitsy's, and a

few days later out gathering sticks in the woods I sadly came across a black pile of fur behind the trailer. How sad, that was Nanna Bella.












She's my Pretty Nanna Bella


So it was with a lot of remorse and sadness that I gathered it all up and brought it home to mourn over them, my dear little friends and children. It was my fault he got so stirred up. So I've been pretty sad in the last week.






Finally it was time for a burial ceremony yesterday. There is a shady spot in the yard where others are buried, Pye, Miss Grundy and now Bitsy and my Nanna. Laid to rest with much singing of little cat love songs.






"Yes they are, yes they are. They are my Lovey Loves.."
That's my little feline love song, only has one verse.



The big lunk. What was he doing that for. Here's the hard thing -- he comes around mostly because of me. And because small mammals are what he recognizes as food, he probably can't help himself. Especially if he's all worked up over something.


But here's the mysterious part. I've seen lion poop on the lane going down to the lower garden MANY times in the last 2 years. He obviously walks there.


However it seems that it's only sometimes he gets the cats all worked up. There have been maybe 5 or 6



times in many years that the cats have disappeared because he's spooked them. I've seen lion poop on the lane and in the back yard more times than that. So all those other times he's out there and none of my cats see him, and he doesn't see them??


Well they sure are mysterious creatures, these cats. All of them. My remaining dear ones are still quite subdued and on high alert. As well they should be.


He's been around again at night. I've been waiting for him. I've got something to say to him. I said it a little a few nights ago when I heard a single "Arrrrrrggggggggggh" out there. I immediately opened the window and gave him the short version of an extended tongue lashing he's eventually going to get.


Yes, he needs to hear about it. I intend to throw a big ol' hairy fit in his direction real soon, when I hear him out there yowling up a storm. That was just a little fit the other night. Not nearly enough.


What I have definitely learned in all my dealings with Nature is that you have to tell them what you want. Very clearly. Personally I think cats understand PERFECT human language, even mountain lions. They totally understand emotional outbursts accompanied by pictures in the mind.


Maha and I already have mind link, I need no convincing to know that if I start yelling and screaming and wailing, sending him images of my 2 cats and vibing him with "BAD KITTY" -- well, there is no way he could fail to get that message.


Now whether he behaves after that....





This happened once before some years ago. He ate Mitzy my greenhouse cat, and Uncle Pokey. That was terrible. Oh I threw a big fit in his direction. Several times as I recall, when I would hear him at night in the distance.


And after that, he's behaved himself up until recently.


I guess the hairbrush on the tree was just too much for him..... High price tag for that little piece of stupidity on my part.







So here's some mysteriousness: The camera has been set up nearly every night facing the same area where he is most likely to be active. I got one little snip of a clip of him, the tail and hind quarters. Caught him on camera again over near the same spot. Watch to the right in the first 3 seconds.


Maha in the Yard again, fro 3-31-14


What?!! What the heck! How come I'm getting him like that? Where could he be coming from? If he's coming from that direction, it can only mean that he jumped from a spot that is basically in the front yard flower bed and outside my doorstep about 10 paces. Which can also only mean one thing: That he came right on in the front gate.


Cue "He came in through the bathroom window...."








In my house that would not be an impossibility given my penchant for quaint screenless windows.


Well, I guess all that peeing around the barn and side gate where I saw him on the previous video clips paid off, he avoided coming in that area. Used the front door instead.


The good news is, all the cats heard him last night and didn't bolt into hiding, so that tells me something.


He's welcome to come around IF he behaves. They have to behave, these animals. That's the challenge of working with them, they have no idea about human boundaries.








Goes both ways most times. We have to educate each other.


That's the report. March going out like a lion in the yard.









Bitsy


Happy Spring!


Kristine Lavender Love