Bike Wildcrafting

I can't get enough bike wildcrafting these days! It's so fun to ride around the countryside spying all these beautiful and medicinal prairie plants. Today I picked blue vervain, boneset, evening primrose, goldenrod (for my dye pot!), and ragweed (which I tied to the back of my bike, so as to breathe in less of its pollen!). More on ragweed later...

Some amazing blue vervain (Verbena hastada)

Enjoy your day, folks! 

Breathe Deep

Even though I love being up in the middle of the night tinkering around in my apothecary, I'm not too thrilled about having to get up because I need to medicate myself with my herbals. But, here I am, early this morning up listening to the coyotes howl and feeling quite a bit better than when I got up two hours ago.

The first hour I was up I just tried to go back to sleep. I love my sleep. I also nursed my boy, tried not to cough. It's high allergy season for me- and even though I do take an over-the-counter antihistamine, it's sometimes still too much.  And sometimes I take the o-t-c meds too early and it wears off halfway through the night.  Since I have no rescue-inhailer, I rolled out of bed, put on a sweater, and trudged upstairs, hacking and coughing all the way. By this time I was wheezing and felt out of breath. The coughing had triggered bronchial constriction, known as asthma or air hunger. (Not that these are exactly the same, but I would certainly say similar-- and I am an undiagnosed person)

So I started the tea pot, took allergy meds, and walked over to my apothecary to grab some herbs for immediate relief. My lobelia tincture (Lobelia inflata), always helps with the breathlessness immediately, but I personally don't enjoy the taste, and a dropper of lobelia leaves me feeling nauseous. Instead, I take a mullein leaf and start burning it. I waft the smoke towards my face, close my eyes, and breathe it in. Immediate relief! I no longer feel panicked for oxygen. Next I get some licorice root off my shelf and put a couple teaspoons in my gourd. I take my osha tincture, drop 5 drops into the gourd and take one on my tongue. I find osha to be incredibly centering, comforting, and relaxing to my lungs/bronchioles.

I poke around looking for my Warming Respiratory Elixer, (violet-mullein-wild ginger). I don't find it anywhere, and imagine that it's probably in one of my baskets somewhere, so I go to the fridge and pull out my bulk bottle. I pour a new bottle, fill the dropper and squeeze it onto my tongue, I squeeze another into my gourd. I grab my Breathe Deep Chest Rub and rub it up and down my neck and on my chest. It's got mullein-infused olive oil, menthol, thyme, and eucalyptus and definitely helps me to breathe deep! All this has taken as long as it takes for my water to boil, so I fill my gourd with the hot water. I take one more dropperfull of that Elixer, for good measure, and because its so darn tasty!

My tea is still cooling, so I decide I'll take a picture of my mid-night medicines. I've been thinking of compiling that Breathe Deep Herbal Kit, and all of these things will be in it:

Dried Mullein Leaf

A Licorice Root-based tea

Warming Respiratory Elixer (violet, mullein, wild ginger)

Osha Honey Syrup

Breathe Deep Chest Rub

Lobelia tincture (optional)

Well folks, the birds are beginning to chirp, the sky is lightening, and I am feeling much better. :-) I'm off to my yoga mat until the boy wakes up!

August Box

Contents and instructions...


Damiana Love Elixir-

damiana, brandy, rose syrup, orange, vanilla 

Damiana is a famous herb known for its aphrodisiac qualities but is also a wonderful tonic for the reproductive system and a fantastic nervine. In this elixir it is teamed up with rose, a cooling astringent,  and orange for a strong dose of vitamin C. Vanilla adds a creamy tone, binding all of the flavors together. Enjoy this elixir many ways-- by adding a 1-2 Tbsp to an adult beverage for a romantic night, or by taking 1/2-1 tsp a day by adding it to juice, water or tea for toning effects on your reproductive and nervous systems. The cooling astringent properties of rose will help to keep your internal temperature cool during these final hot months of summer. Enjoy!

Disinfecting Tincture-
This is a tincture for external use only.
plantain, cleavers, chickweed, lavender essential oil
This tincture is a great thing to take along on any outdoor adventure.  It is great to put on itchy, angry bug bites that are red and inflamed, or to rub on the area after a tick bite. (Of course, visit your doctor if you have concerns about those bites.) It is even good to rub on cat scratches and poison ivy.  This formula will help calm inflammation, while soothing the area and drawing out possible infection.

Meditation Tea Blend-
lemon balm, tulsi, alfalfa, wild rose, gotu kola, red rose petals, oatstraw, rosehips
A nourishing and rejuvenating blend with freshly harvested and dried tulsi, lemon balm, and wild rose. Oatstraw, alfalfa, and rosehips are great sources of vitamins and minerals we need every day-- calcium, magnesium, zinc, B vitamins, iron, folic acid, potassium, vitamin C and the list goes on. Rose and lemon balm cool the body and balance the body-warming effect of tulsi. Tulsi or tulasi, also known as holy basil, is a relative of the sweet basil we use in pesto. It is held sacred among Hindus of all sects and is incorporated into spiritual practices in India, consumed as tea and burned as an incense. On a physical level, tulsi has been used to strengthen the immune system, clear toxins from the body, and calm the nerves. We are delighted to let you try our homegrown! This tea is nice to have warm with just a bit of honey, or iced with a splash of juice-- I recommend local peach.

Sweet Relief Herbal Bug Repellent-
catnip, apricot kernel and coconut oils, vanilla extract, witch hazel, essential oils of lemongrass and lemon eucalyptus, rosewater
A moisturizing yet non-greasy bug spray with all natural ingredients and a lovely floral-lemony aroma. It combines fresh, homegrown catnip-infused oils with vanilla and skin-toning witch hazel and rosewater, to repel a variety of pesky insects. We formulated this specifically to guard against biting insects prevalent in Iowa in the summertime-- gnats, mosquitoes, fleas, and ticks. For external use only. Shake well and spray on, re-applying every 2 hours or as needed. The glass bottle preserves the integrity of the oils in the spray. Do not leave your spray in direct sunlight or store it in a place with a high temperature.

Nerve and Muscle Repair Salve-
arnica, St. John's/Joan's wort, cottonwood bud resin, olive oil, beeswax
An amazing synergistic blend, this salve is great for sore muscles, bruises, nerve pain, and inflammation.  It will soothe everything from bonks to sciatica to a numb nerve line, to muscles sore from a hard day's work.

Kombucha-
black tea, yerba mate, rose petals, black cherry juice
Enjoy!

Disclaimer:  All information here within is for education purposes and is not intended for the diagnosis, treatment, or cure of any disease.  Consult your healthcare provider before self-treating.

Join us for an Herb Walk!

Join us for an herb walk through St Joseph's Cemetery, Oakland Cemetery and Hickory Hill! We will be meeting at 931 N Summit St at 9:30am on Sunday Aug 11th and be leaving for the walk at 10am sharp. Items to consider bringing include water bottle, snacks, comfortable shoes, hat, sunscreen, pen and paper, camera. Expect to be out walking for about two hours, but duration of walk will depend on who attends and what ya'll prefer. This will not be a wild crafting expedition but rather a walk to learn to identify common medicinal plants and their uses. As always please RSVP if you will be attending so we can prepare a head count and idea for what to expect.

Bitters Barbecue Sauce How-to

Grilled tilapia with bitters barbecue sauce on the table. Yum!

The taste of bitter herbs like gentian, dandelion, and yellow dock may make you shudder, but the effects of adding bitters to your diet are all positive-- better digestion and metabolism, hormonal balancing, blood sugar regulation, and liver and gallbadder support. Cacao and coffee are also bitters, albeit bitters that contain caffeine. Bitter herbs send a message to our digestive system that we are eating complex food. Putting our bodies through this "challenge" on a regular basis is healthy because it leads to strong digestion. Taking bitters before meals as a daily practice improves overall digestive and liver health, but bitters are effective even the first time you take them.

Our bodies have taste receptors designed to sense bitter when we eat it! Tasting bitter stimulates digestive secretion. The body immediately starts producing saliva as well as acids, enzymes, hormones, and bile, getting itself ready to process what we eat. Many very fine herbalists such as James Green, Guido Mase, Susun Weed and Jim McDonald have all written about what happens to bodies that never taste bitter, something Green termed "bitter deficiency syndrome"-- a chronic state of sluggish and weak digestion which robs the body of nutrition while it also disrupts important body processes beyond digestion.

Personally, I have a bitters craving, feeling not-alright unless I eat bitter greens on a daily basis. But I know others are less enthusiastic. How do we make bitters something to look forward to every day? Well, I have found bitter herb extracts to be really tasty additions to tangy sauces like barbecue, teriyaki or a Jamaican style jerk. I even drop a half teaspoon or so into stir fries while de-glazing with maple and lemon juice. A bit of sweet maple makes bitter taste palatable to even picky eaters (but not too much sweetness because you have to taste the bitter for the plant medicine to work).

Back in April, we Wild Rose herbwives were in Christina's kitchen concocting a bitter molasses syrup, using fresh whole dandelion and yellow dock roots along with some wild-crafted nettles. Some of that yummy stuff was still hanging around in my fridge one night in May, and my husband Eric put some into a barbecue sauce he was making for his grilled veggies. Sooooo delish! My bitters receptors immediately called out, "Make the sauce bitter-er!" I concocted the sauce further, using both the Wild Rose Bitter Molasses AND some of our fresh-pressed Bitters Tincture. We served this version of the bitters sauce to our Patio Party guests last month, slathered on some grilled tempeh bites. And good for the peeps who gobbled it all up!

Here is my recipe for the barbecue sauce. Get you some Bitters Tincture and Bitters Molasses pronto and whip it up, folks!

Bitters Barbecue Sauce

7 oz. tomato paste
5 oz. water
3-4 tablespoons Bitter Molasses Syrup (decoction of whole dandelion herb, nettles, and yellow dock roots in blackstrap molasses, with lemon juice)*
2 tablespoons maple
2-3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or balsamic vinegar
2-3 droppers full of Bitters Tincture
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients well and warm on low heat, stirring often, just until the sauce starts to bubble. Remove from heat, cool, and spread on grilled fish, meats, tempeh, veggies, etc. Should make 2-3 cups. Leftover sauce can be stored in the fridge in a glass jar.

*Note: Substitute regular blackstrap molasses or leave out the tincture if you want a less bitter sauce.

Wild Rose Apothecary's Bitters extracts

Inquire with us via email (wildroseapothecary@gmail.com) about our bitters products-- Bitters Tincture, Bitters Molasses Syrup, and Iron Root Bitter Vinegar. Bitters Tincture will also be available soon through our etsy store.

Our Bitters Tincture contains dandelion root, gentian root, ginger root, and lemon balm, along with a mix of fennel seed, peppermint, and/or licorice root. Each of us has our own signature blend, but all three anchor on dandelion and gentian roots. There are few herbs as bitter as gentian; really gets the job done! We include wild-crafted dandelion in this tincture and our home-grown lemon balm. We aimed for energetically balanced formulae, using warming and cooling herbs, moistening ones and others with drying qualities. Christy's formula includes a small portion of maple-- an already sweetened bitters.

Bitters Molasses Syrup is full of iron, high in vitamins A and C, and minerals such as calcium, potassium, magnesium. Anyone who is prone to anemia would be wise to take blackstrap molasses infused with one or more of the herbs in this formula daily (nettle, dandelion, yellow dock).

Iron Root Bitter Vinegar is another bitters extract I love. I take a dropper full daily in the morning (my spicy and nourishing bitters alarm clock), but I also use it in salad dressings, sauces, even in hummus. It is an apple cider vinegar extract of yellow dock, burdock, and ginger roots. Like most bitters, these roots restore and improve liver function while being high in iron.

Disclaimer:  All information here within is for education purposes and is not intended for the diagnosis, treatment, or cure of any disease.  Consult your healthcare provider before self-treating.