It’s September 2020. We’ve been talking a lot about back-to-school stress and how to “braintain” with the help of herbal medicine. Our immune systems are probably already a little compromised by stress and emotional fatigue of living in this upside down era; now we get to move into cold & flu season whilst still battling a pandemic virus. Indeed, any cough or sneeze or sniffle puts anyone within earshot into a mild panic (did we mention that stress can compromise an immune system?).

In a time when almost everything seems out of control, today we’re going to talk about how you can be proactive with plant medicine to protect yourself from seasonal assailants. The herb friends we’ll discuss today are:

Garlic (Allium sativum) --so good for your immunity and digestive system. It’s a two’fer! Echinacea (Echinacea purpura) --such a beautiful plant to grow! And powerful preventative medicine.

Astragalus (Astragalus propinquus) --one word: “interferons”. So cool! Keep your ears open. Elder (Sambucus nigra) --this shrubbery (yeah, I said it) provides us layers of medicine, starting with elderflowers, then elderberries (check out this DIY Elderberry Syrup Kit and look below for links to recipes). 

These guys are often helpful for more than immunity, some are more preventative, some more curative.Different bodies react to herbs in different ways, so find out what works for you maybe with the help of a certified herbalist or naturopathic practitioner.

LINKS:

Elderberry Syrup Kit

 Syrup Recipe

Popsicle Recipe

Maintain Your Brain Tea Bundle

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*The information I’ve provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment. Please consult your medical care provider before using herbs.

How is the whole “back to school” thing going for you? Stressful? Maybe? 2020 just doesn’t seem to let up. Are you a parent all of a sudden becoming a teacher, homeschooling your kids? Maybe while you’re still working a full-time job (or more)? Or are you a teacher trying to figure out how to do your job without being in a classroom? Or being in a classroom, trying to figure out how to keep you & your students healthy and COVID-free?

Our current time is so stressful and can bring on anxiety. And if you are on the West Coast of the US like we are, you’re probably engulfed in wildfire smoke and maybe you or friends & loved ones are worried about their homes and livelihood. So, in this episode, we’d like to share some plant friends with you that can help support your nerves, calming stress and tonifying your system, helping you learn to adapt to all the stressors that have been flung at us this year.

We’ll learn about adaptogenic herbs that help your body adapt to life’s various stressors whether they be emotional, physical, or spiritual. Ashwaganda is my favorite adaptogen; this herb is perfect for people who do too much. Holy Basil is another delicious adaptogen that is definitely a hug in a mug.

We’ll also discuss nervines which are a kind of herbs that acts on your nervous system. There are both stimulating and sedating nervines. We’ll be discussing sedating, soothing nervines like Milky Oats & Linden. Also Passion Flower, Chamomile, and Lemon Balm. I’ll touch briefly on St. John’s Wort to dispel some myths and give you some info on ways that it might be useful to you.

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Disclaimer:
*The information I’ve provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment. Please consult your medical care provider before using herbs.

Are you wondering what herbs you can use to help you and your family transition into Back-to-School mode? Whether you’re still adapting to working from home, or, you have to homeschool your kids; you’re probably wondering how in the heck you’re going to be able to manage everything. It. Is. Hard.

The good news is that there are plants out there to help you navigate the challenges you’re going through right now.

In this three-part Back-to-School series I’ll be discussing herbs that can help you with memory, clarity, focus, and keeping you sharp in general; herbs to help you with the stress and anxiety that can come with so many expectations, tests, change, and all there is to balance. And what about your immune system? We all know Back-to-School time brings about tons of sniffles, coughs, and other illnesses, and now we get to do it all in the midst of a pandemic. Neato. No pressure, right? 

Since this time is all about learning and growing, let’s start with herbs that can maintain your brain, so you’re able to retain all of that wonderful knowledge and information, with a bit more ease. These herbs can even help you organize all of the new things on your to-do list, so you’re not stuck swimming in a sea of chaos.

So, onto the Brain-Taining (yup, we may coin that phrase) herbs, shall we?

Ginkgo (Gingko Biloba), Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis), Gotu Kola (Centella asiatica), Brahmi (Bacopa monnieri)

*further information on these herbs can be found on my blog*

There are several ways you can take these herbs. You can take them in tincture form, as a tea (obviously my favorite), or if you’re into poppin’ pills, you can certainly do that too. Just make sure that wherever you get your herbs from, that they are sustainably grown and sourced, and made by some darn good herbalists!

Admittedly, I start every day with some coffee and a good walk. But, then I move on to the

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Melissa Mutterspaugh sits down with Elise Higley, owner of Oshala Farm, a 50-acre farm in southern Oregon in its eighth season.  They discuss what it means to be an herbalist and maintain integrity within your own business while providing quality product that empowers others to explore herbs for mind, body, and soul.

 Elise’s herbalist path began decades ago in California when she randomly picked up a beautiful, pictorial herb book, inspiring her try herbal remedies. When she did, she was blown away and has been using medicinal herbs since.

 Then, at the California School of Herbal Studies, Elise recalls a teacher saying, “We need more herb farmers...” This stuck with her when she moved to Oregon, making her own herbal products, she found a shortage of local sources.  She & her husband, Jeff, decided to incorporating herbs into their farm. Now, years later, Oshala is producing some of the highest-quality herbs available. Melissa notes that the Oshala products she uses are dramatically more fragrant, whole, and potent than previous suppliers.

 Elise is part of Our Family Farms, an organization working to protect small farms and create GMO-free seed sanctuaries. A 2013 push to ban genetically-engineered crops in Jackson Co, OR, brought about a ruling that  “deemed GE crops are an economic harm to traditional seed farmers”. OFF continues to support these ideals.

This is a crucial time to return to our historical, herbalist roots. Everyone can feel empowered to use plant medicine. Some considerations: know where your herbs come from. What grows in your region? Growing your own is best, but if you can’t, find a farmer near you; pay attention to who & where your herbs are coming from. Happy medicine come from happy people & plants. 

Elise & Melissa faced challenges growing beyond at-home, folk herbalism. Elise explains that farming is challenging. So many unpredictable variables: nature, fire, water supply, wages, equipment costs, etc. You start small or plan on a huge investment to farm a product to be proud of. You have to want it, heart & soul.

But a person can start with education. Melissa & Elise share some fun and practical knowledge

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Disclaimer:
*The information I’ve provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment. Please consult your medical care provider before using herbs.

6 Herbs for Summer Skin Care

It’s mid-August and summer is awesome, but our skin is toast! Sunburns, bug bites, cuts, scrapes, bruises; all signs of the season. In today’s episode, we’ll learn about 6 of our favorite foliage friends that can help us heal our summer skin! 

Calendula, my Friendula, is a magical wonder when it comes to skin issues. This beautiful plant can be used for any skin condition inflammation and is also antifungal. Great first aid for minor burns. Make yourself a Calendula flower oil infusion to keep with you all year long. 

Comfrey is a superhero of wound healing! It’s rich in allantoin,helping grow new skin cells. If you break off the stem of a comfrey plant, the moist allantoin-rich sliminess inside works wonders to cool and soothe your crispy skin.

Aloe is also rich in allantoin, magical slime-like no other! Aloe helps cool inflammation, heal wounds, and as an antifungal.There's a huge list of the things aloe can do for you, both inside and out.

Plantain is one of my absolute favorite plants. It’s an herb that l every human should know because it helps with so many different things!  I wrote in great detail about plantain over here. But we’ll just talk about summer skin issues. Plantain has this amazing ability to draw things out of the skin like splinters or thorns. It’s especially great for drawing out venom or infection, ideal for spider bites, bug bites, or even snake bites. And you can wrap it around ouchies on fingers and make super cool nature bandaids!

Yarrow can be a true lifesaver when out in the wilderness because it can help stop bleeding.. If you get a serious wound that is bleeding profusely, Yarrow can be an incredibly valuable plant friend.  Just take some of the flower, and/or it’s many feathered leaflets, mash it up, and put it in/on the wound. (Of course, if your wound is bleeding in a major way, you’re going to want to head to the hospital once you reach your car or another safe place.)

Marshmallow is a super mucilaginous plant, particularly when using the roots. You can create a cold infusion of the roots that will produce this super slimy mucilaginous stuff and it’s exactly what you want. It’s an

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Disclaimer:
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There’s one herb that I wish everybody knew, especially you, because it’s awesome for first aid like bug bites, bee stings, cuts , scrapes, and all that,  gut health, tooth infections, and even respiratory health. The herb is Plantain. No, we’re not talkin’ bananas here. We’re talking about Plantago major.  A cool little plant that grows in your sidewalk cracks, along roadsides, and pretty much in all of the places that we as humans have come in to disrupt nature. 

• First Aid: Plantain has this cool little compound called allantoin, and it helps to regenerate cells, pretty cool, eh? 
• Did someone get a little cut or scrape? 
• Little Buzzy Bee get a little too close and sting you? Yup, make yourself a little mash up (poultice) of plantain and plop it right on there. The same thing goes for spider bites, bug bites, snake bites, and all those pesky bug bites.  Y
• Splinters, or maybe there’s a Thorn literally in your side? You guessed it, plantain can help with that too! 
• Burns, they suck, right? This is where The AfterBurn really comes in Handy! 

Mouth or Tooth Infections

So yes, plantain is one of my absolute favorite super bestest plant friends! It’s one I think you should know, your kids (if you’ve got them) should know, your grandma, your neighbor, frickin’ everybody should know plantain! And everybody should use plantain, and most of all, everybody should LOVE plantain!

So how about you? Have you used plantain before? What did you do? How did it work?

Leave a message in the comments below and let me know, and be sure to head to mountainmels.com, enter your email address and get my FREE Guide on 10 Medicinal Herbs for Your Health & Well Being, with recipes, and growing advice!

If you enjoyed this post learning about my good ol’ buddy, Plantago major, do me a favor and share it with your friends! Together, we can inspire a movement where there’s an herbalist in every home, again! #SpreadLikeWildFlowers

Antioxidant activities of allantoin rich plants

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Disclaimer:
*The information I’ve provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment. Please consult your medical care provider before using herbs.

In this episode Alex talks about how we need to Inspire the Ripple Effect of The Importance of Using Plants As Medicine and Food! 

She shares precious lessons and memories of her grandparents who lived off of the land and were an incredible influence in her passion for plant medicine. They walked for miles, harvested their own food, and were often found making tinctures from the plants they found on their land in Alabama.

As our world is changing drastically right in front of our eyes, there is a lot to be learned from the way of living the way Alex's grandparents lived.

Being a part of the ecosystem and living in the woods, and getting to know the plants in their natural habitats is an integral part of connecting with the Earth and had a huge impact on the way Alex uses plants as medicine.

Alex is not only a teacher in her own school Tend and Flourish School of Botanicals, co-founded with Crystal Stevens, she runs Tending The WIld Botanicals & she’s also a teacher at the Columbines School of Botanical Studies in Oregon.

Alex’s school teaches people the basics of herbal medicine, how to make your own medicines in your kitchen, and soon she’ll launch a course on cultivating your own herbal medicine.

She speaks of making tinctures and teas with Passion Flower to help calm and soothe the nerves during times of great stress or overwhelm.

GoldenRod, New England Asters, Milky Oats

Ted Dawson was one of her early teachers that also inspired her to learn more about herbal remedies. Sue SierraLupe was an incredible inspiration with her Occupy Medical project. She learned from Howie Brownstein, Steven Yeager, and Heron Bray.

Some of Alex’s Favorite Books: 

Medicinal Plants of The Pacific Northwest by Michael Moore

A Modern Herbal by Maud Greive 

Find Alex at:
https://www.tendandflourishschool.com/

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Disclaimer:
*The information I’ve provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment. Please consult your medical care provider before using herbs.

In this episode, I chat with Dr. Orna Izakson and we go deep into the subject of despair and loss, and what plant allies we can use to help us through these tough times of life where we experience destruction, despair, and heartache.

We dive into Skullcap, Linden, Milky Oats. She shares a story where she was in the middle of NYC park, and she found a Linden Tree! She talks about the value of being able to connect with the plants, and just be with them, even if you’re not intending to harvest.

David Winston Quote Herbalist’s don’t get burned out because we get to be with the plants!

Milky oats for nervous system support and adrenal support.  A great herb where you’re just incredibly frazzled. Using Milky oats as a long term tonic that can help tame and calm the nerves.

How to become a master herbalist in 30 years or more. Paul Bergner

Fireweed flower essences for trauma, grief, and loss

Alaskan Essences Company

Dr. Orna's favorite first herbs to help the movement of there being an herbalist in every home!

Garlic antimicrobial helps with digestion, lowers the risk of lung cancer in smokers by, lowers the risk of cancer, helps not get sick, and recover from sickness, lowers blood pressure, just to name a few

Thyme, digestion, anti-microbial, yummy, lung health, helpful for cuts and scraped

Webinar What you Need to Know About Corona Virus with Dr. ORna Izakson and Dr. CAtherine Clinton.

We all need to have basic life skills! 

We’ve outsourced our health! Empower!

Stay humble, there’s always more to learn!

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/CeliloHealth/

www.dr.orna.net

https://www.facebook.com/celilohealth/?ref=ts

Instagram: @dr.orna @Gardenmedicine

Special Gift for our listeners!

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Well if you love learning about herbs...
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Disclaimer:
*The information I’ve provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment. Please consult your medical care provider before using herbs.

In this episode, Dr. Danielle Currey of Herbs And Hands talks about her favorite recipe that she calls the Gateway to Herbalism, Elderberry Syrup. There are some tips on how you can make your own Elderberry Syrup, and preserve them into all kinds of fun things!

You can get a great Elderberry Syrup Recipe here 

She talks about some of her favorite Herb Teachers like a mutual favorite of mine Paul Bergner and his audio courses which can be found here: https://www.naimh.com/courses

She shares the herb that she thinks everyone needs, Dandelion! You’ll learn about how it grows everywhere and how it’s beneficial for your health. Specifically like your digestion, your urinary system, liver, and how it’s just great food and medicine! She goes into the different parts of the Dandelion plant, and which one is better for different situations in life.

Dr. Currey talks about some of the herbs she used to help with her Autoimmune Arthritis like Turmeric for its anti-inflammatory qualities. She used Chamomile, Valerian & Passion Flower to help her sleep and deal with the anxiety of being in excruciating pain. She also used nutritional herbs like Dandelion and Nettles and an overall healthy diet using Food As Medicine.

She talks about how important it is to start playing in the dirt, getting your hands dirty and experimenting with herbs. She also discusses how important it is to be mindful of where you’re getting your information from as there’s a lot of misleading information on the internet, so be cautious. Avoid information that says ___herbs treats ___, and why herbs don’t work that way.

She talks about how all humanity used to use herbs on a regular basis and it was a solid way of life! There used to be a Herbalist in Every Home! We need that to happen again so we can be in charge of our health, again! She touches on how the FDA is trying to take away herbs for Naturopaths and herbalists to use herbs as simple as Nettles, and learning how to use herbs in your own home is a way to navigate around that!

Rosemary Gladstar

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Disclaimer:
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Welcome to our first episode of The Herbalist’s Path where we’re on a mission to inspire a movement where there’s an herbalist in every home, again!

In today’s episode we have a chat with Missy Rohs, herbalist, activist, teacher, and Cofounder of The Arctos School of Botanical of Herbal & Botanicals Studies. We take a deep dive into her Herbalist’s Path where she first got introduced to herbalism through reading Punk Scenes. She joined the Black Cross Health Collective where she first started learning about how to administer first aid in activism situations. She found that she was surrounded by a group of ER nurses, massage therapists, herbalists, nurse practitioners and other health care practitioners, and she needed to learn more about health. She began taking some classes from some of the other Black Cross Health Collective members such as Colette Gardiner, and Krista Olson.

A bit later a new partner got her interested in gardening and took her on weekly hikes. She learned about how you can walk down a path in the forest, and get to know the plants, and how to use them. These plants quickly became her friends!

She later took the leap to learn more and went down south to learn from Michael Moore and Donna Chesner. 

She talks about how you become an herbalist when You use plants for their medicinal properties. Even if it means you’re just using ginger when you’re sick, or peppermint for an upset stomach.

Lately she’s been loving listening to Julie James of Green Wisdom Herbal Studies, and her Monday morning classes that are available live on Facebook, 9 am PST. One of my teachers Lydia Barthalow, and now at her own school Arctos School of Botanical Studies, she has been able to add her own guest teachers to the list.

Her first tincture she ever made was an echinacea tincture she made in college. Garth Caul taught a class on how to make a tincture with fresh echinacea tincture, and she was lucky enough to be in the dorm where the tincture was steeping. She ended up with a ½ gal

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Are you ready to use more plants as medicine within your family???
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Disclaimer:
*The information I’ve provided is for educational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for medical treatment. Please consult your medical care provider before using herbs.