 I don't always get to wild harvest the medicine I make. But when I do...it's incredible. I should also say...empowering. St. John's Wort is one of those herbs. It's known to bring light into people's lives. This is especially important for those of us who have long winters. St. John's Wort is the perfect sidekick to a diet rich in vitamin D for those dark months. I am happy to say that my harvest and medicine making is now complete! Head over to my Store to purchase a bottle for yourself! (but please scroll down and read the contraindications for this herb...it cannot be mixed with pharmaceuticals)  
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It's that time of year. Johnny and I caught a bug this week so I thought I'd revisit some of my cold/flu protocols. I realize I haven't been on top of my game lately, ideally I would be doing some proactive/preventative care every single day, in sickness and in health, but we all fall off the band wagon sometimes. Here is my protocol for supporting yourself with a cold:
 It's magical walking into the 10 acres of forest we now own to harvest herbs. Its that feeling you get as a small child before you understood ownership. The forest has always been a child's wonderland. It most definitely was for me. That is honestly what led me to herbal medicine in the first place, I wanted that child-like re-connection with nature. Today I wanted to share with you one of the herbs, or I guess its a Lichen, that I have in abundance on my property: Usnea Usnea grows like whispy gray-green beards from hardwood trees in rainy forests. Usnea contains an acid that is antibiotic. It is used for infections with gram positive bacteria like strep throat. It is not effective against gram negative bacteria like e. coli. It is documented that Usnea was more successful as an antibiotic than penicillin in tuberculosis and strep throat. How to Harvest: Find a forest with hardwood trees. Usnea is usually hanging from tree branches. After a storm is a great time to harvest because the wind has blown down a lot of the unreachable pieces. It is a very slow growing Lichen so don't over harvest, only take what you need. To identify it correctly you'll need to look at a few distinct factors: -Here in the Pacific Northwest our Usnea can grow up to a foot long! In some other parts of the country it's small. -Look for a single attachment like in the photo below. Other lichens will be attached more broadly while Usnea has a single "stem". -Pull apart a strand in your hand. It should be stretchy and have a white core like in the photo below.
Photos from: http://www.christopherhobbs.com/wp-website/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/Usnea-booklet-text.pdf  Uses: Fungal infections Acute bacterial infections Lupus (auto-immunity) Second and Third degree burns Athletes Foot Ringworm Urinary tract infection Colds/Flu Tuberculosis Sinus Infections Preparation/use Tincture: 1:5 (herb to liquid ratio) 80% Alcohol Dilute in water as it can be an irritating tincture Specific dose: Dropper 2-3x a day for acute bacterial infections  It's normal. It really is. Stress. Depression. Panic. Unease. It gets worse with that slow, mellow, drowning on the daily. It gets worse when we aren't in control. When we have no sanctuary. Nothing to look forward to. It's when we're misunderstood. It's when we're exhausted but can't sleep. It's when our mind doesn't turn off. At night. I lie awake. Trying to come to terms. Trying to control what happens next by thinking about it endlessly. Sometimes my heart beat won't slow. Sometimes my mind won't just go To sleep. They should put me in AA. My hereditary marks me with Allergies and Anxiety. Allergies I've fought with healing foods and cleansing. Anxiety rears it's head when I'm fending off the daily demons. When I have no control. Nothing to look forward to. And nothing to hold. Our culture has founded this feeling. By aggressively speaking: "SUCCEED SUCCEED SUCCEED" "DO IT ALL. DO IT ALL. DO IT ALL." Wendell Berry comes in beautifully And says, "When despair for the world grows in me and I wake in the night at the least sound in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be, I go and lie down where the wood drake rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds. I come into the peace of wild things who do not tax their lives with forethought of grief. I come into the presence of still water. And I feel above me the day-blind stars waiting with their light. For a time I rest in the grace of the world, and am free." We need to gather up a tool box And fend off the thoughts When they become all-consuming When they steal our joy And our sleep We need to plan adventures Things to look forward to We need to meditate Take baths Read books Write poems Take herbs to support us Eat food to stabilize us Go into the wilderness Get away from everyone Love ourselves Let others love us Anxiety is hard to combat. Sometimes our circumstances are unavoidable but with a tool box in place we can support our bodies through it. {I've created two herbal supports for Anxiety and have a third for Depression on the way. The mind is what fascinates me the most and I plan on specializing in Nutritional Therapy, Herbalism and Poetry Therapy for those who suffer from the debilitating aspects of Anxiety. You're not alone…not even close.}  
"Elderberry has been proven effective against eight different influenza viruses. This may solve the perennial problem of the “mutating flu.” Viruses have the ability to alter their genetics and create new strains. This makes a problem for creating vaccines against viral diseases, such as flu or AIDS, because the vaccine can only be developed against known strains. The host remains unprotected against newly evolved forms of the virus. With the flu virus, the new evolving forms can sometimes be deadly as especially virulent strains develop periodically. We haven’t had an outbreak of deadly flu in recent decades, so many people do not realize how serious the illness can be. One strain killed more than 100,000,000 people worldwide in the second decade of this century — that’s more than have died in all the 20th century wars put together. Some epidemiologists have pointed out in recent years that we are overdue for another deadly flu epidemic, which reoccur, like earthquakes, at regular but not necessarily predictable intervals. Vaccines will be of no use against a new strain, at least when it initially appears. Elder may thus be able to literally save lives, because most strains of the virus use the same enzyme mechanism to penetrate cells. Elder preparations may be superior to flu shots for another reason: 50% of people who get the vaccines report side effects" Vaccine Info taken from: www.cdc.gov/vaccines
Elderberry Info: Paul Bergner: http://medherb.com/Materia_Medica/Sambucus_-_Elderberry_%28Sambucus_nigra,_canadensis%29.htm My own herbal knowledge, http://www.naturalnews.com/025019_elderberry_flu_colds.html#ixzz3llXiMXQm  For the first 3 years of my marriage to Johnny we opened our space to over a hundred people: travelers, homeless and friends. It was a time full of unique energy and non-stop interactions. For a while, I thrived. I met so many amazing people and it felt good to provide a safe space. We shared conversations on the porch, big pots of oatmeal in the morning when a lot of people were there (by the way, we were mid-remodel and had no kitchen so all our meals were made over fire), and worked on projects. I did an okay job at self care while this was all happening, but stress ended up getting the best of me. How would you feel having 25 different roommates in 5 years, 100+ house guests all living in a half remodeled house? Not to mention the other stressors that came my way, 2 years in I had a miscarriage and had to go through the whole ordeal surrounded by people, unable to escape and deal with what had happened, soon after that we decided to take a trip to South Africa for 2 months to work on farms and travel, it was an amazing experience but while I was gone my grandmother passed away and I wasn't home to say goodbye. When I arrived back home our hospitality house continued but I felt I had lost a lot of my drive to go on living that way. Too many stressors were piling on top of our living situation. Soon after we returned home my kitty was hit by a car and died. The combination of roommates, guests, the miscarriage, traveling, and death finally caught up to me. I remember the day, almost 2 years ago, I was deep cleaning the house when I started having sneezing fits, a runny nose and itching eyes. Little did I know that this reaction would continue on, 24/7, for the next year. I was miserable. I couldn't enjoy anything like I used to. Being a florist, herbalist and wild forager didn't really work with being allergic to plants. And not just plants, but dust too. So whether indoors or outdoors I was reacting to something. It clouded my head and made me want to just lay on the couch a lot of days. I never understood how awful allergies really were for people. When you're body is having a whole body inflammatory response it takes a lot out of you. I went to the doctor to find out exactly what I was allergic to and was given anti-histamines…which made me feel even more tired. (I only tried them once for relief and got a "hangover" from them) The other recommendations I found online were: keep your house clean, have bed and pillow covers for dust allergies, don't have pets, don't go outside during certain seasons, etc. etc. With these options it was clear to me that I had to do something way more intense, I wasn't just going to live life like that. So a few months in I made it my goal to heal myself. And while I still have a little bit to go I thought I'd share with you all how I've healed. It's an insane protocol but if you suffer as much as I was you may just want to try it! UNderstanding Allergies: Now, in this post, I'm specifically talking about environmental allergies, but it can also apply to food allergies in a way. The interesting thing is, environmental allergies are usually caused by an underlying food allergy, so you end up healing your food allergy and environmental allergies at the same time. Basically, if the body is overwhelmed by an allergy to a food, stress, overwork and not enough self care, an allergy to other things can form. So the goal in healing is to de-stress, implement self care, eat clean and take immediate measures to relieve symptoms. This is not a short process by any means, it's taken me a whole year to get where I am now. Patience is key! My Protocol:-Drink LOTS of water. I cannot stress this enough, dehydration can cause more histamine response. -Supplements: (all the titles are links to where you can buy)
-Bone Broth: This is by far one of the best things you can do for yourself. Go purchase local/grass fed animal bones from your butcher (beef, chicken or whatever you like). This title will link you to a friends nutrition blog where she shows you how to make it. Once you make the base you can make whatever soup you like with it. I would consume this daily if possible. It is packed full of minerals, vitamins and gut healing nutrients. It has helped me immensely. -Cut down Sugar and Alcohol: I had to do this hardcore. I took my sugar consumption down to only a fruit or 2 a day and a little bit of honey sometimes. I also fully cut out Alcohol after having allergic reactions to it about 5 months ago. These two things have been an amazing addition to my protocol and I know it's hard to do…but so worth it. -Self Care: This one is way more important than people realize. Stress contributes to allergies. So try and make a routine for your days where you have time to take care of yourself. If possible, don't overwork, say no when you need to and pamper yourself. -Get Good Sleep: The benefits of good sleep are endless. Make it a goal to go to sleep by 10pm and get a good 8 hours if you can!
 Ingredients I LOVED no bake oatmeal cookies as a kid. Now that I'm mostly grain free, I wanted to come up with an alternative recipe. Thus, a seed version was born. Keeping the base peanut butter and chocolate was a must, although you could sub out for whatever nut butter you like. Besides that I used pumpkin, sunflower seeds and shredded coconut for my "oatmeal" and added a little vanilla and Maca powder. 1 cup fair trade dark chocolate chips 3/4 cup organic peanut butter 1 cup sunflower seeds 1 cup unshelled pumpkin seeds 3/4 cup shredded coconut 2 tbsp Maca powder 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp salt Peanut butter is a good source of monounsaturated fat and should keep you satisfied longer than other kinds of snack foods, make sure you use peanut butter that doesn't have any added vegetable oils, just straight peanuts. Sunflower seeds have a very high Vitamin E content which make them anti-inflammatory. Pumpkin Seeds unshelled contain high amounts of Zinc. Coconut is another great source of fat but this gives you saturated fat, which, contrary to popular belief, is very good for you and should be consumed! Maca is a root that can be consumed daily as an overall tonic, it is known for it's abilities in hormonal issues, libido, immunity, memory, circulation and overall stamina. You can purchase this online at www.mountainroseherbs.com. The chocolate chip are dark so that there is less sugar, they are also fair trade, the ones I used are from Equal Exchange where they pay their cocoa farmers fair wages. http://shop.equalexchange.coop/chocolate/chocolate-chips.html     Instructions  Melt the chocolate chips in a sauce pan on low, add in the peanut butter and stir until combined. Add vanilla, salt and then Maca making sure the powder is well incorporated. Last, add the seeds and coconut. Use a spoon to drop small clusters onto parchment paper and put in the fridge, or freezer if you want to eat them immediately, and wait for them to harden. Voila!
I'm here to tell you that there is an alternative, and that it's preventative, immune boosting and only comes with positive side effects. Let me introduce you to one of my favorite medicinal plants: Elderberry  The traditional cold medicine just doesn't cut it. Here are some details about NyQuil: Possible side effects of NyQuil liquid:All medicines may cause side effects, but many people have no, or minor, side effects. Check with your doctor if any of these most COMMON side effects persist or become bothersome: Constipation; diarrhea; dizziness; drowsiness; excitability; headache; loss of appetite; nausea; nervousness or anxiety; trouble sleeping; upset stomach; vomiting; weakness. Seek medical attention right away if any of these SEVERE side effects occur: Severe allergic reactions (rash; hives; difficulty breathing; tightness in the chest; swelling of the mouth, face, lips, or tongue); difficulty urinating or inability to urinate; fast or irregular heartbeat; hallucinations; seizures; severe dizziness, lightheadedness, or headache; stomach pain; tremor; trouble sleeping; vision changes; yellowing of skin or eyes. The Ingredients:
 Not only is this plant gorgeous, with a white flowering umbel that turns into berries in the fall, it is well known for it's anti-viral properties. It has even been said that elderberry works better than flu vaccinations due to it's ability to fight any strain. An Elderberry Syrup is a must have in the household, especially one with children. Instead of breaking out that NyQuil, make up your very own batch of this and have your whole family take it throughout the cold/flu season. 1 cup dried Elderberries (Though I recommend fresh berries in the fall!) 6 Tablespoons dried Echinacea Root 2 Tablespoons Fresh Ginger Root 2 Tablespoons Fresh Tumeric 1 Tablespoon Cinnamon (or 2 cinnamon sticks if you don't have the ability to strain it well) 1 1/2 Cups Local Raw Honey 6 cups Water Ingredients Take all your ingredients, except the honey, and simmer them in water for 45 mins or until it reduces to half the amount of liquid. Strain the mixture, I use a french press for this. Allow it to cool a little bit before pouring it over the honey so that the raw qualities of the honey aren't compromised. Mix it up and store for a month in the refrigerator. You can also make a half batch if you are just using it for yourself. :Instructions:  Elderberries are anti-viral and anti-microbial, Echinacea is also anti-viral and anti-microbial, Ginger is a digestive aid as well as anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory, Tumeric is also an amazing anti-inflammatory, Cinnamon promotes sweating, is a digestive aid and antiseptic, Local Honey preserves the syrup and has it's own antimicrobial, antioxidant and immune building properties. Dosage: You can take a tablespoon a day during cold season for preventative measure and approximately 1-2 tablespoons every 2 to 4 hours at first sign of cold or flu. For children cut the dose in half.  There is yet another introduction to make in Forest and Field. This time it's not a new person but purely a new product hand made by yours truly.  Below you'll see me front and center among a group of healers, some of which I spent two years learning herbal medicine with. I completed a basic and advanced course at The School of Traditional Western Herbalism and may someday complete the third clinical year when I've got the resources. This is where Forest and Field Apothecary has it's roots.  The legality of selling herbal medicine for internal use is something I have yet to look into so for the sake of simplicity I am kicking things off with herbal salves. These will be made with my own wild harvested herbs and some organic purchased herbs when necessary. Each will be for a different ailment or skin issue. Each of their bases may include the following: Cold Pressed Olive Oil 100% Local Beeswax Coconut Oil Vitamin E Oil
Wild HarvestingA new salve recipe I am working on is for cuts and scrapes as well as fungal skin infections. I wild harvested Usnea, a lichen which is anti-fungal, out in the forest. As well as Cedar, also anti-fungal, and Oregon Grape root, anti-bacterial and anti-fungal, nearby my house.     
In the next few months we will prepare to launch our online store where you can purchase these along with Johnny's wood crafts. Show me some love if you are interested in these!
-Bailey  These people right here are up and coming healers as well as current healers in many ways and I am excited to be one of them. It's crazy but, as of last night, I can say that I've completed anAdvanced Herbalism course at The School of Traditional Western Herbalism.
I'll be honest, I don't feel advanced. I can still do one more clinical year, making a total of three years and maybe feel some sort of "advance-ness" but what I have to remind myself is that this journey will never end, I will have to continue in knowledge for the rest of my life. That said, I am excited to start practicing with friends and family and anyone else who would like a free herbal consultation. I believe doing hands on work will be the key to my learning because, right now, it's all in my head. I can't wait to share this with people! |
Bailey Patrice & Jonathan David
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Date
December 2017
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