NEWSLETTER - WINTER 2005

Late winter on Samish Island. The woods are alive with birds coming back to roost and raise their young. A few plants are just starting to peek up from out of the forest mulch. Wild plum is beginning to break bud. Winter winds have brought cottonwood branches down, giving ease to collectors of the sticky, resinous buds.

Populus balsamifera, Cottonwood, Balm of Gilead, is the largest broadleaf tree in the Pacific Northwest. A member of the Salicaceae family, of which willow is also a member. The resin from the leaf bud of the cottonwood tree has a celestial scent like no other. It has anti-fungal, anti-microbial, & anti-inflammatory properties, to name a few. An oil or salve made with this resin can be used to bring pain relief caused by swelling, arthritis, strains, and general muscle pains.

The resin can be put directly from the bud on a cold (herpes) sore. It doesn't look pretty, and stings a little at first, but man, does it ever bring relief from the itch and does a great job with speedy healing of the lesions. If you are worried about people staring at the yellow glob on your face, you can also use the oil full strength. Works just as well, but with a lesser visual impact.

For a hot dry cough with a lot of hacking, but little relief, balm of gilead resin works well to cool the lungs, liquefy and bring up the mucous. The resin is not water soluble, making a tea or infusion would not work…. how do we get the resin to the lungs? Hmmm… the resin dissolves well in honey and can be then stirred into hot water to be sipped. The lungs sit on the back of the ribcage (the first chicken I butchered taught me this). Rub the oil or salve onto the back and chest for relief in that way.

Balm of gilead resin is in Good Natured Earthling's Comfrey Calendula Salve, Ponderosa Pine Antibacterial Cream and Antifungal Foot Cream. See our testimonial page for rave reviews of these products!

With my experience raising chickens & teaching livestock care workshops in a former life, I sometimes get calls concerning rooster behavior. Recently, I visited a friend with a "rooster gone wild." In my observation of said rooster, I came to the conclusion that this was a rooster with a healthy drive to protect his girls. With a few instructions and a demonstration of putting a fowl gone afoul to sleep by holding it's head gently under it's wing, we decided to turn off the pot of boiling water and put away the axe. In the weeds that were tossed into the pen afterward was a handful of dock. Curly dock to be exact: Rumex crispus.

There's a common saying among some herbalists which describe our outlook on what to do with the weeds that most people pay big bucks to get rid of - "if you can't beat them, eat them. The buckwheat family, Polygonacea, contains both edible and poisonous plants, so you really have to be careful with this plant family. From the obnoxious Japanese knotweed which squeezes out all other plants as successfully as blackberries, to sheep sorrel, a well known ingredient in the purported cancer remedy, essiac formula, this is a varied and semi large family of plants. In Hitchcock's Flora of the Pacific Northwest, there are 6 genuses listed with myriad species. This issue will focus on the Rumex genus.

Rumex acetosella, or sheep sorrel, is a low growing plant that makes it's home mostly in disturbed sites, roadsides, pastures and the like. The leaves are tart and are rich in vitamin C. We all know by now that Vitamin C is an important antioxidant. The tart taste is attributed to the plant containing oxalic acid.

Plants containing this acid should not be eaten in large quantities as the acid can produce oxalate salts, which interfere with calcium metabolism. There is a cousin to sheep sorrel that grows in sub-alpine regions called mountain sorrel, Oxyria digyna whose leaves are also sour to the taste. The leaves of both plants are best eaten fresh in salads, sandwiches, or grazed upon during hikes or walks.

Rumex crispus, also called yellow dock by some, is commonly used in women's formulas for it's iron content.
I harvest R. occidentalis, western dock, in late winter to make my own iron rich tea blend (Iron Maiden) for sale in the spring, adding with it dandelions, nettles and other iron rich herbs. I harvest this dock by a bay near my home. Very sandy soil, of course, which makes for easy harvesting.

The roots of this plant are a beautiful vivid orange. The leaves in the summer are usually red spotted in places. Using the old Eclectic's tradition of the doctrine of signatures, this spotting looks like red blood cells, which shows that this plant "feeds" the blood, i.e., is rich in iron.

Cedar Mountain Herb School offers wild plant walks all year round. Come along on one or two and learn more about Rumex and many other plants. Reading about a plant is one thing, but seeing the plant in it's habitat and learning proper identification techniques are essential to this plant family before you delve into sampling.

Most Sundays, Beth Hailey, an herbalist friend of mine, and I take walks mostly on the same trail along a bluff which goes down to a beach near where we live. This is a great way to get grounded back to my version of reality and see the same plants (and their offspring) over and over throughout the seasons.

Today we found dandelions in full flowering wonder. I picked a leaf for Beth and I, and ooooo, talk about bitter! It felt like a shot of iron and minerals flew right down into my gut and my gut is asking for more. Yehaawwww!

Dandelion (Taraxacum officinale), is an excellent all purpose plant of many uses. All parts of the plant are edible. In winter, we dig roots to make tinctures, vinegars and to dry for tea. I find that I will still pick leaves for sautéing with olive oil, garlic and onions as a nutritious winter green.

Every spring, I make pickled dandelion flower buds - see our recipes page for easy instructions. Enjoy as a condiment, in salads, on rice, beans and more! Very tasty and a great boost for the digestive system.

As the seasons progress, the dandelion flowers infused in oil make a wonderful rub for strains and bruises. The leaves are a valuable addition to salads and to replace pale, nutritionless lettuce. In the meantime, dandelions stimulate the digestive system and may inspire a desire to eat in those with dull appetites. As a digestive herb, dandelion gently helps those with constipation, blockages and "sour" stomachs.

Your liver continuously performs over hundreds of functions every day of your life. You could live with one lung, one kidney, lose some fingers or toes, but you could not live without your liver.

It produces bile, which is excreted into the gall bladder to wait to be released into the small intestine for the digestion of the food you eat. The liver also produces hormones, and is a storage room/transfer station for heavy metals and toxins. It filters your blood, removes and breaks down fats, alcohol and more.

Dandelion is the premiere herb to support the liver, allowing it to be strengthened, healthy and available at all times to do the many jobs it is designed to do. Dandelion acts as a diuretic, removing and moving excess water from the body, adding potassium and other minerals to the body at the same time. Commercial diuretics remove potassium and minerals from the body. Potassium is vital to cardiac health; therefore, dandelions may be the better choice as a diuretic.

Our Love Your Liver Tea contains dandelion root, along with other liver loving herbs: burdock root, citrus peel, milk thistle, and red clover. Just simmer one tablespoon per cup of water for 10 minutes, turn off the heat, let stand 1/2 to one hour and sip to stimulate, heal, protect and nourish the liver and entire digestive tract. One cup per day is great for maintenance, 2 or more cups a day for sluggish digestive problems.

Want to know more about dandelions and other liver herbs? Sign up for Cedar Mountain Herb School's wild plant and foraging workshops as they are presented now and in the upcoming months!

By the way, a dropperful or two of Motherwort tincture,(Leonurus cardiaca) nips a panic attack in the bud, not to mention taking the edge off of stressful feelings and situations. Look for this tincture and a new line of herbal tincture blends this summer on Good Natured Earthling's online store page!