A Bright New Chapter!

The box came!! The box came!!
I have wanted this and had the money set aside
for this since December.
I just couldn't make myself hit the button
to make the purchase.
But then I just closed my eyes and did it.
And then it came!

 

And this is what it all comes together to be. 

And herbal distillation set up.

So cool!!

With this wondorous doohickey I can

turn the glories of my herb bed into

liquid life.

Ok.. so that is a little over the top,

but I can make 'complete distillates'.

Some folks call the hydrosols, but

you can get some bad connotations from that.

An average hydrosol is what is left over

AFTER the essential oils have been lifted out.

Smells great, but is missing a part of the whole.

I am leaving the essential oils in, 'complete distillate'.

And some folks just add essentail oils into some water

and call it a hydrosol. No. Wrong. Fail.

I want all of the goodness all together the way it is supposed to be.

Later on I will wax exuberant over the joys and benefits of distilled herbs and blossoms, and twigs and leaves, and resins and fruit, but this one is just about my joy!

Joy! Joy! Joy!

Can you tell that I am pleased?

And the pic doesn't do it justice somehow.

It really is bigger in real life and much more impressive as it

looms over my workspce being all technical and important looking.

 

 

 

 

And so I took a lot of this...

Yarrow.

And a bit of mint and bee balm and some lemon balm

and tossed them into the bowl of the wondorous toy.

(that really, really needs a name)

 

 

 

And all together with very pure water

they look like this.

Only it will begin to boil and steam will rise.

And go into the twirly tube that is inside

of the larger glass tube.

The larger glass has cool running water

that surrounds the twirly tube

cooling the steam inside

so that it drips out of the bottom

as a complete distillate of the plant.

(please refer to the upper pic to see the

magical twirly tube called a Graham condenser)

What comes out is not an infusion, or tea.

It is the steam that has been cooled once again into liquid.

The liquid carries the phytochemicals

and volatile oils from the plant materail

It has all of the medicinal properties, the fragrances

and the power the living plant carried.

Awesome!

Totally freaking awesome!





 

 

 

 

 

Here you can see the beautiful blue

essential oil from the yarrow

moving through the condenser.

Look at that!

Wow!

Cool!

Now.. I could put on a gadget that

would allow me to siphon off the

essentail oils, leaving behind

the liqiud (an incomplete distillate)

but I want all of the goodness to stay together.



 

And here is the first ever "Complete Distillate'
made by me!
Woot!
And I chose the yarrow because of it's amazing
insect repellant properties.
I have read numerous times about a U.S. Army study
done at Fort Bragg (in a swamp, it is)
that showed that yarrow was more effective than DEET.
I can't find the actual study anywhere,
but I figured I would give her a go.
Wow!
Yes!
Ok.. so we have had so much rain.
Unbelievable amounts of rain here in the past 10 days or so.
A whole lot of rain.
Crazy rainfall.
And with that much rain and all of the standing water everywhere
and all of the leaves on the ground in the woods
holding water, we have had a mosquito
EXPLOSION!
Mosquitos like to make love in the rain.
Walking through the garden today
(the first time I have been able to even think about
going into the garden in a week)
I could feel myself running into the mosquitos.
Clouds of mosquitos.
Bad.
So I had the boy child be my guinea pig.
(like I am going to let myself get bitten by mosquitos.. pshaw)
I sprayed half of his body in my yarrow distillate
and left the other half open for lunch.
One leg and one arm got each treatment.

And though I was unable to take a seeable,
non-blurry pic of the mosquitos eating
his untreated leg I can stand up and shout..

IT WORKS!

It works really, really well.
I had to make him shift the treated leg away from the untreated one
so that they would land to feast.
And then I sprayed his neck and face.
And he promptly licked his lips
and declared it tasty.
So then I sprayed it into his open mouth and into mine.
Yummy!
Like really yummy.
Kind of green and minty.
You won't be seeing me spraying DEET
into my kid's mouth.
I was able to work in the garden without being bothered
by a single mosquito..
other than the clouds that I ran into.
But they fled in horror from
my very essence and the glory of my yarrow distillate!

And this is the pitiful boy child

as I have him sit and be bitten.

He is making a sad guine pig face.

He was totally disgusted with me.

That amuses me greatly.

But then I released him and sprayed him inside

and out and he was not bitten anymore

and the sad face turned into a smile!

 

 

I will be working on many more wonderful distillates soon

and will be working on a way to offer them up for others that may want them.

Hmmmm... I may sense a give-a-way coming on.



Plantain Salve.. upon completion

You may remember the beginnings of my plantain salve..
Plantain Salve

And so I let the leaves,
stems and blossoms macerate
in my mix of oils for several weeks.
I even let it spend a night out on the railing
under a full moon.
I wasn't really sure what I was expecting..
Ok.. that's not true.
I didn't expect a darn thing to happen
at all, I just figured it couldn't
hurt to let it soak in some lunar
energy or whatever.
Well.. that evening out did change
the contents of the jar a bit.
In the morning, it was a much deeper, darker green
and the leaves of the softer plants, like the chickweed,
were almost skeletonized.
Interesting.
I see how it could make a difference.
I do know that the moon pulls on the water
and I know that it pulls on the earth
and I do actually plant by the moon phases,
so I suppose that it could also pull upon
the tender parts of a plant
sitting in oil.

Regretfully I do not have
any pictures of the deep dark green liquid
to share with you.
Of course, the camera needed to be charged.
Of course it did.
And once you start with salve, you can't just stop.

But I tell you it was so dark green that it
was almost black;
just stunning and rich.
I poured it off and strained the
plants and gave it a good squeeze
and warmed it slowly in a double boiler.
(a pyrex measuring cup in a pot..fancy)
I grated unfiltered, raw beeswax into the liquid
until I achieved a consistency that I liked.
I wanted it to be nice and firm, but not rock hard.
I don't like squishy, mushy salves.
Then I poured it into little 1.3 oz jars!

I love the way that it turned out.
The wax muted the green,
but it is still darker than most salves.

I didn't add any essential oils for fragrance.
This is medicine.
This is a serious salve.
Anti-inflammatory, analgesic, cooling and soothing,
anti-microbial, healing and cell regrowth,
anti-fungal and anti-biotic in nature;
this salves really packs a punch.
And the bee balm and the beeswax give it
a nice subtle scent that fades
off of the skin within moments.

I decided to go with 'Summer Salve'
as the name.
I just couldn't get 'Bite and Sting Salve'
to sound as sleek and awesome as this salve deserves.
And I have used it for things other than
bites or stings because I haven't managed
to get a bite or a sting since I made it.
I am ok with that..truly.

But it is also chock full of minerals and amino acids
and vitamins and nutrients and life,
so I have used it on my hands and put it on my face
in the evenings before bed.
It feels nice and anything put on the skin
absorbs right into the body.
I figure that it is feeding my skin
and that's a good thing.

And I made a lot of it.
More than I could use in many years.
If anyone is interested,
it can be yours for the
princely sum of $5 (+$3 s/h).

I am searching and searching
for a way to put a wee shopping cart
on the right over there.
A real cart with a Paypal button and everything,
but I haven't found one yet.
Butif you would like a bit of this salve,
please drop me a note and I will
hook you up with my Paypal and zip it out to
you straightaway.
I will have other salves available
as I make them.
I have run low on about everything
and will be making tinctures and salves
throughout the rest of the season.

And I have made a small change to
the blog.
All comments are 'submitted for moderation'.
Not because I have had any problems or spam,
but because folks have been commenting on
old posts and I have no idea and I don't want to miss anyone.
This way, I get notification of a new comment.
That's all it is.

Other than salves,
it has just been raining and cooler
and I am loving it!
However, the garden is in desperate need
of tending and it is a wild, wild place.
I popped in briefly to harvest some tomatoes and grab
some basil for pizza tonight (yay! cool enough to fire up the ovens!)
and was aghast at the weed growth!
It's bad.
But I can't do anything about it until it dries out a bit.
I am not one that will work
a garden in the wet.
I don't need bacterial wilt or any other
disease or fungus to entertain me.
So.. the weeds may flourish until it dries.

Plantain Salve

Plantain Salve

Isn't that just GORGEOUS!
Stunningly rich colors!

That jar holds the beginnings of my plantain salve
for soothing skin irritations.
Think bee stings and fire ant bites.
We have been plagued with both this year
and I have found my pantry lacking
any means to deal with them.
So... a salve is needed.

In that jar you see
plantain leaves and stems,
comfrey leaves and stems,
the very last of my garden's chickweed,
bee balm leaves and blossoms
and dried arnica flowers.

Plantain for its "mucilage acts as a demulcent and helps to balance the astringent actions and heals and soothes bee stings, bites, and poison ivy. The astringency also has a styptic effect when used topically and acts to stanch hemorrhage and ease wounds and bleeding cuts by contracting blood vessels."
Comfrey because comfrey is da bomb!! For healing, nothing beats it.
Chickweed draws out the venom and reduces the itching from bites and stings.
Bee balm contains large amounts of Thymol and is a wonderful antiseptic
and it has other properties that soothe and calm and reduce the heat of inflamed tissues.
And arnica is just about the best topical pain reliever I have ever found.
I have a jar that holds a very strong arnica oil that I made.
It is almost instant pain relief.
That finger I tried to cut off several years ago?
Well..I did more damage to it than I thought.
I cut some important things in there and it hurts me
quite often and very badly. A little of my arnica oil on it
and I am good to go again. It is magic!!

So.. all of these wonderful things are steeping all together
in some flax and sunflower oil.
Soon I will add fresh, raw and unfiltered
beeswax to it and a smidge of Vitamin E as a preservative
(added benefit with the anti-scrring properties)
and I will have a salve that should be perfect for easing the pain and itch of insect attacks.

This is plantain.
A wonderful plant for medicinal use.
It is great for just about everything,
but I use it mostly for bites and stings.
Though I hope to use them this winter,
along with my mullein, for lung issues.

I am very proud of my growing number of plantain plants
overtaking the garden.
You just don't see them much anymore
thanks to herbicide use.
I started with just one wee plant
and now I have about 20!
Yay!
I love the lushness of the leaves.
They are thick and dark and deeply ribbed
and bring a sense of health and wellbeing to the garden.
The garden and it's soil must be healthy
and well balanced if my plantains look this good.
Or at least that is what I tell myself.

And this is how I am steeping the oil.
I don't want to heat up the kitchen,
and frankly it would be ridiculous
to not use the free sunlight and
all of it's energy for this purpose.

But just as you do not want to dry your herbs in direct sunlight,
you don't want to make an herbal oil in the direct sun either.
So.. I pulled out an old (and dusty..sheesh)canning pot
to keep the herbs out of the light
and heat them good and hot at the same time.
It gets very, very warm in there!!
But not so warm as to break apart the delicate herbal oils
and destroy the healing properties of the plants.
I will let them sit in the sun
until the oil is heated all the way through
and then pull it to the shade to let it sit and stew.
I think maybe 2 days of steeping...
I would like to do about a week, but the need for it is great
and immediate.
Poor Sweet Husband has been repeatedly stung
by these teeny tiny little yellow jacket unlike any I have seen before.
They pack one hell of a punch!
This is his second sting in as many weeks on the same spot on his arm.
It is so swollen he says he fear the skin will split. Ouch.
I have been making plantain poultices for it
and it has worked very well.(when I can get him to use them)
Last night's sting actually bled.
I have never seen a little insect draw that much blood.
So it had a huge hole where the sting actually was,
then a raised area around it.
A bit of plantain poultice and within an hour
you couldn't see the big hole and the raised welt was gone.
I'm telling you... plantain is the good stuff!!

Oh darn!! I forgot to put in some yarrow!
Oh well.. I guess it is not too late if I run right out and cut some
to toss into the jar...
Runs out the door!!!

More on nettles...

Martian Chick, one of my followers, my sweet beloved followers
mentioned that she liked raw veggies and greens.
I am here to say that you can eat nettles raw/uncooked.
I do it all the time.
I like them in salads and on sandwiches and burgers.
And they are really good on homemade pizza.

I just pick them and let them wilt for awhile.
I usually stick them in a baggie in the fridge until I am ready to eat them.
They have a mild flavor and they taste very green.

I also dry them for a tea that is unbelievably good for you.
I pick them and lay them out in the shade on a sheet or on a screen.
I am lucky enough to have plenty of screens from old storm doors lying around
and use them to dry most of my herbs that don't get hung to dry.
I don't dry them in the sun for the leaves are very papery
and would dry to quickly.
I fluff them periodically until they are paper dry.
Then I crush them up and remove the stiffest of the stems.
They diffuse into tea better when crushed
rather than when you use the whole leaves.
I store mine in mason jars, but I make sure that they are
very, very, very, very dry first.
You can also store them in paper bags.


I use the tea as a drink. I mix with cranberry juice. yum.
And I use the tea on my hair and skin.
Nettle tea for your hair is great.
Stops dandruff and leaves your hair shiny, thick, full and healthy.
It was THE remedy for baldness for ages.
I just pour a cup of it over my head after I shampoo.
Don't rinse out. You can also work into your scalp when
your hair is dry. That is a great trick to get rid of the dry,
crackly, 'I heat with a woodstove' look that winter can give.

I use it on my face after I wash. It is like a vitamin infusion
for your skin. My skin looks fresh and healthy and moisture rich
which is good as I tend to have paper thin, dry skin.

To make the tea I take a good pinch of the dried nettles
and put them in my tea ball. I do a quart jar at a time.
I hang the ball chain over the side and screw down the lid
to keep the essential oils from escaping in the steam.
I leave it overnight usually.
Having a tea ball is a new and wondrous thing for me.
I have only had it for a few months.
Before that I would just toss a pinch into the jar
and then strain the leaves.
The tea ball is much better.

And don't toss your dregs. Put them in the compost!!
Like comfrey, nettles are great for your compost and for your plants.
Sometimes I use the tea in a sprayer to give my plants a quick mineral boost.
I also ferment my dregs and stems (like the ones from last night's meal)
in a quart jar. Ewwww after a week or two, but very good for the garden.
I use it on my seedlings.

And nettles are good for livestock. Back in the day
they would feed crushed, dried nettles to horses before
they sold them to improve the gloss and condition of the horses'
coats so they could demand a higher price.
It is said that nettles (again, crushed and dried) mixed
into chicken feed can make a dead hen lay an egg.
It is great for the lactation support of milking animals
like cows and goats... and nursing moms as well.
It is the high mineral content that does it. We really don't get
enough minerals in our diet anymore. And nursing babies
just rips it out of you... more than anything else.

And while I am on my nettle soapbox I will share another tidbit.
Nettles make great fiber!
Again, back in the day nettles were used for cloth
and rope. The fibers in full grown nettles are very long.
Healthy nettles in rich, moist soil and good sun can
reach 7 feet tall. I have never seen one that tall, but they say it can happen.
You rett the nettles by rotting the stalks until the meat
falls away. You can do it in an old bathtub or in a still part
of the creek.
The woven cloth from nettles is said the be softer than silk
and can be made to be stronger than canvas.
Now that is saying something!
Nettles make a high quality paper too.
One day. One day I will rett some and see what I can do.
I am not familiar with all of the process that go into
making cloth, but I can make paper.
We shall see.
I would truly love to just have a nettle farm.
But until the word gets out about nettles
I think I would just be sitting on a lot of product.

I hope that this has opened some eyes
about the wonders of stinging nettles.
So, next time you are walking the creek bed, take a look.
Best to pick them for eating when young and tender.
Just pick the tops and they can produce for you all summer.
In the fall I go through and gather large quantities
for drying to use through the winter.

But if you are harvesting wild please remember to pick one and leave three.
Let me know if any of you give nettles a whirl and like it.
If you don't like them...shhhhhhhh.

Nettle Soup..

Though technically the nettles
weren't quite big enough....
I couldn't take it anymore.
And I had fears that I would have to wait even longer
for it was pouring rain all this morning.
But the sun came out and gave me a lovely afternoon.

You see above the nettle gear.
-Good gardening gloves.
These have rubber-like palms and fingers.
-Sharp scissors.
-A bowl (or a 13 gal garbage bag if you are really harvesting)
-Beautiful, succulent nettles.
Careful. Careful.
For the nettles do bite sharply and the feeling lasts
like a good kiss.
Except the nettles sting and burn and tingle
most unpleasantly.
Pick just the top few leaves.

As soon as they are picked they begin to wilt
and the sting leaves them.
Apparently after a good rain and while very young
and strong, the sting lasts a bit longer.
Ask my left thumb pad how I know. ow

My Nettle Soup

-onion
-butter
-chicken stock
-potatoes
-nettles
-savory
-salt
-milk or cream

-Put a hunk of butter into your pot to melt.
-Roughly chop one onion and sweat in the butter
until translucent.
-While that is going peel and chop your potatoes
and cook them in the microwave or another pot.
(leftover baked potatoes are perfect for this)
-Add your stock to the onions.
-Trim the nettles' stems and roughly cut the leaves.
I use scissors for this and hold the nettles by the leaves
and cut away the stems and let them fall.
-Add cooked potatoes into your pot.
After they cook a bit I use the masher to crush them into the soup.
-Add nettles, a pinch of savory.
On salt... if your stock is salty, add to taste. I don't like
salt very much and only add it if absolutely necessary.
-Let simmer for as long as you like, stirring occasionally
to keep the potatoes from sticking to the bottom of the pot.
-Turn off heat and let sit a bit, then add milk or cream to taste.

It is very good and very good for you.
Nettles are full of minerals and calcium and chlorophyl.
They really are one of the healthiest things you can eat.

I served the soup with a spinach salad
and fresh baked herb bread.
(please, please forgive the obvious
bread machine bread.. I was busy.
Oh lord.. I feel like such a 'not-a-woman'
for stooping to the use of a bread machine.
But sometimes...sometimes dang it all
I don't wanna knead bread!)
Dinner was great tonight!!! I mean, really, really good.



And on an unrelated topic.. check it out..

Those gossamer threads on my holly shrubs are just covered with teeny, tiny baby spiders!
Go Charlotte's Kids!