NEWSLETTER - AUTUMN 2004

Welcome to autumn! The sun is setting earlier; the blankets are out of the closets to be snuggled under with the start of chilly autumn gusts.

Devil's Club, Oplopanax horridum, is our herb in the news this month. It prefers to live in moist areas under the cover of the forest canopy. Where you find Devil's Club, you'll also find Oregon Grape, Huckleberries, the trees ~ Cedar, Douglas Fir, Grand Fir, Hemlock.

Anyone who has grabbed onto the stalk of this plant can attest that this is a plant well named. Hundreds of tiny sharp thorn-like prickles covering the stem and leaves have a way of imbedding themselves under the skin of many a hapless victim and festering.

In the do as I say and not have I done department… I have been known to suffer with Devil's club fragments in my hands. A good soaking in Epsom salts helps, as does putting on that miracle tape of many uses - duct tape - for a day or two. When you take off the tape, it pulls out the splinter!

Traditionally, the native coastal people of the Pacific Northwest have used Devil's Club for pain relief and as a stimulant to give them long lasting stamina to pull their canoes to neighboring villages and food gathering.

Those who struggle with junkfooditis find that using small amounts of Devils' Club on a regular basis helps suppress the cravings for what is inside all the fast food wrappers that we find on the side of our roads, along with the hankering for alcohol, sugar and tobacco.

Acting similarly to Ginseng (Panax spp.), long-term tonic usage of Devil's Club helps to add strength to the body's systems. In the same way, it gives us long-term healthy energy, helping us to get off the caffeine roller- coaster.

I lived on an organic farm for a short time years ago, and had a young roommate who was enthralled with watching my apprentices and I strip Devil's Club bark off a large fall harvest. He chewed on a small piece of the bark after I told him about long lasting zip it gives a person. The next day, he told me he had never picked so many vegetables in one day as he had after chewing that bark!

Good plant to know overall, hey?

Dolly's Arthritis Cream - Made with Arnica flowers, Hellebore root, Valerian root and flowers, Devil's Club root, Willow bark, and Bitter root. This is a very potent pain relieving cream made for those with arthritis, rheumatism and bursitis. Not for internal use as the arnica and hellebore are not to be ingested. This is one of our most popular products and can be seen on Good Natured Earthling's online store page!

Calendula is a cheery half hardy annual that grows well here in Western Washington. It bears sticky yellow to orange flowers that are the part of the plant that is used medicinally. We harvest our calendula when it just opens first thing in the morning in order to get the flower before it is pollinated. Once a flower is pollinated, it's medicine "shuts off" and cannot be used.

Calendula madly self seeds. Once you have one calendula plant, you stand a chance to have many later on in the season. It is a beautiful border plant and I have used it as such in a round, mounded garden I had when I lived on my farm years ago. On the top of the mound, I planted mammoth sunflowers; the bulk of the garden was Echinacea purpurea and lavender with calendula framing the entire garden all around! Of all the gardens I've ever grown, this was my favorite for medicine, great smells, a wonderful butterfly attractant and for sheer beauty!

Calendula, featured in our most popular salve, Comfrey Calendula Salve, is known to be antibacterial, antiseptic and antifungal to name just a few of it's attributes. An herbalist friend of Suzanne's said that her dad used daily washes of calendula infusion on a ulcer on his leg that just was not healing. The calendula healed his leg within 2 weeks with no further irritation.

See our Good Natured Earthling online store page for our Comfrey Calendula Salve and Medicated Lip Balm!