It has been very quiet on the forum over the holidays. I know several people have been ill, Debs and myself included. Now the festivities are over, I was wondering what herbal plans everyone has been making as part of their New Year resolutions?

I don't make resolutions, because I know I won't keep them, but I do try to make changes when they appear helpful. Last year I instigated two major changes which I am continuing. These were on my mind yesterday, because I actually spent time doing herbal tasks as opposed to feeding people and washing up (our dishwasher broke on Dec 28th, just before our hordes departed).

I make up a herbal tonic for us to take every morning at breakfast time. Chris' ingredients are mainly preventative - hawthorn for heart, nettle root and saw palmetto for prostate health, with a bit of dandelion thrown in to help his liver. My ingredients are based around what is happening with my health so yesterday I included hawthorn for blood pressure, nettle for stress, cleavers for lymphatics, SJW for SAD and nerve compression, rue and horsechestnut for venous strengthening. (The two latter herbs are in 1-3tsp doses compared with the others being 1-3 fluid ounces.)We don't take them every day, because we are away from home quite often and there may be a week's gap when the bottle of tonic runs out before I make up the next one.

Last year I began to keep a herbal diary in which I kept a note of everything I did and any recipes I used and how I changed them. It's been really useful and means I have a record of what I did when and for whom. It's a great aide memoire (useful as I get older!) and helps me when I'm putting together diary pages for the Sanctuary website or writing blog or other articles. It's also useful for noting impressions of new herbal products such as the bitterness of golden rod vinegar or the sheer delight of rose tincture and vinegar and comparing different vintages (last year's nettle root tincture was much darker than this year's!).

My last herbal task yesterday was to make up some deep tissue massage salve from golden rod, yarrow and SJW oil. I had to leave the glass jars by the radiator to warm up before I dared to fill them with hot oil as they had been in the garage for the past few weeks!

Best wishes

Sarah

Happy New Year!

I'm new to this forum but it all seems very lovely.
I'm currently enjoying lots of strong liquorice tea with 5 drops of Capsicum tincture in each cup.
It keeps me warm and lively in my herbal practice.

Holly


"Nature is beneficent. I praise her and all her works. She is silent and wise. She is cunning, but for good ends. She has brought me here and will also lead me away. She may scold me, but she will not hate her work. I trust her."Goethe

Hello Holly,
Welcome to the forum--it's always nice to meet new people and it is a very friendly group.
I gather you are a medical herbalist. Would you consider having some of the Herb Society membership forms in your clinic in case any of your patients might consider joining the Sociey? That goes for any other herbalists out there, or indeed anyone else who can put them out on public display.

Linda

Hi Holly

I've always thought of liquorice as a sweetener rather than a tea in itself. I don't tend to use it myself because of the contra-indications if you have a tendency to high bloodpressure. Do you grow your own? I had a plant once but it disappeared.

I am interested in how you make your tea and how you would make your capiscum tincture if you made your own - what kind of pepper/chilli, what alcoholic base etc.

Best wishes

Sarah

Hi Linda,

I'd be happy to have some membership forms to offer to my patients.
You can send them to my practice:


Hi Sarah,

I certainly agree that liquorice is sweetening. I think the sweetness goes beautifully with the spiciness of the chilli. Regarding the contra-indications, as you say there is a concern for people with high blood pressure. According to the Commission E other contra-indications for this herb include cholestatic liver disorders, cirrhosis, low potassium levels (hypokalemia),kidney insufficiency and pregnancy.

It is interesting to also consider Culpeper's view that "The root of this plant is deservedly in great esteem, and can hardly be said to be an improper ingredient in any composition of whatever intention."

I don't grow my own liquorice but I do grow chillies on my window sill. I confess to buying my Capsicum tincture though as I find that all the chillies on my window sill go into my cooking. I'm sure I have a recipe for Capsicum tincture somewhere though, if you'd like me to look up the recipe..? For the tea I just put two teaspoons of cut liquorice root into a cup and add freshly boiled water. When the roots sink I add about between 3 and 6 drops of Capsicum minimum tincture (1:3) and enjoy it. I find that the same liquorice in the cup can be resused at least once in the next cup of tea of the day.

Do you have a current favourite herbal drink?


Warm wishes,
Holly



"Nature is beneficent. I praise her and all her works. She is silent and wise. She is cunning, but for good ends. She has brought me here and will also lead me away. She may scold me, but she will not hate her work. I trust her."Goethe

Hi Holly

Your liquorice tea does sound tempting. If you could find the recipe for capsicum tincture, that would be great. I'm holding a workshop on tinctures at the end of January and it would be nice to make one which is slightly different!

My favourite winter tea is one I've talked about a lot on the forum so I won't post the recipe again. It's a version of Rebecca Hartman's flax seed tea with fresh orange juice and peel and cinnamon. It's a wonderful tea for curling up and doing nothing with - which is all I'm good for at the moment! I don't get to make it very often as we're addicted to various kinds of ordinary tea and my husband is the main tea maker in the household. He's off skiing for a week next Friday so I'm looking forward to making a few herb teas while he's away. Having said that, we made a lot of ginger and lemon tea while we were suffering with colds and coughs over the holiday period and those were truly delicious and warming!

Best wishes

Sarah

Happy New Year to everyone from me and Si Sorry I've been very quiet recently, as Sarah mentioned in her opening post I've been ill, sorry to hear that you have been poorly to Sarah! I spent the holidays and my birthday full of the flu and really not up to doing much, hence not posting lately, thankfully I'm well on the mend now, still have a cough, but I'm over the worse and can get back to work.

For 2009 I want to keep learning about herbs and their myriad uses, try and make more time to blog about herbs and also continue developing my garden. That said, theres lots to do on the Herb Society website, I'm working on my book and several articles plus other things, so in reflection I think I'll take the year as it comes and try and make good use of the time, when I try and make plans, invariably something else gets in the way, so take it as it comes looks like a menu for less stress.

Debs