Hot and all in a summer tizzy? Try this tea I’ve mixed for you all, mostly from herbs that are very common to the Puget Sound local area. ($3 per 2-ounce package, at our herb counter) It will be good warm to start off the day, or nice and refreshing iced in the sultry afternoon. Try a little honey or other natural sweetener with it.

Spearmint – cooling and flavorful;

Catnip –  relaxing and healing for the stomach;

Lemon Balm — uplifting, and relaxing to the nervous system

Blackberry Leaf — immunity and strengthening of physical resistance;

Star Anise — reduces exhaustion and lack of appetite due to heat ;

Comfrey Leaf — powerful healing for the stomach and internal organs;

Lavender — relaxing and aromatic;

Motherwort — reduces anxiety and tension, strengthens the heart, brings on mid-summer night dreaming…

Enjoy!!

I think most of my fellow staff members would agree that the VitaCoco Coconut Water found in our cooler is the BOMB! Absolutely the best when it’s hot… like now it’s about 90 degrees and I just want to drink it all day! We have Plain and an Acai/Pomegranate flavor.

Here are some of the benefits:

* More electrolytes than most “sports” drinks

*More potassium than two bananas

*Helps rehydrate after fluid loss and prevent cramping from exercise.

Vaccinium spp.

Both the leaves and the fruit can be used medicinally…however, we stock just the dried fruit, which is the most commonly and studied part of the plant.  so, took about 2 tablespoons of the dried fruit and brewed it in about a cup or so of water.  by brew, i mean I made a decoction.  and by decoction, i mean bringing the water and herb to a boil in water and then lowering to a simmer for about 20 minutes or so.   the water turned a nice deep purple and i added just a tiny bit of honey to it.  i thought about some apple cider vinegar, just cause i am into that kinda thing…maybe next time.  this time, i wanted to taste more of the bilberry.  and it was delicious!  it didn’t even need the honey, it was sweet and flavorful.  it would be a great tea for kids, or to add to another tea for flavor.  or jsut by itself everyday as a tonic.

if you did it everyday as a tonic, some of its uses might be helpful to know.  to see if you are someone that could use a bilberry tonic.  it is great to the vascular system.  things like Raynaud’s syndrome (cold hands and feet), venous disorders during pregnancy, varicose veins (venous insufficiency), hemorrhoids.  According to Mills and Bone, it decreases vascular permeability, and so therefore increases capillary integrity.  it is also used in my vision supplements.  it is astringent and can be sued for diarrhea, and is great for inflammaotry bowel conditions.   so, there i would be thinking a yummy tea for my kids if they were having diarrhea or some digestive thing with loose stools.  and like other dark berries, it is antioxidant as well.

what a pleasant tea for this sunny seattle day.  would be great on ice as well!  or made into a syrup.  or used in some yummy cocktail.  and you know there’s delicious bilberry jam out there as well.

drink up!

i bet i’ll be having more bilberry tea from now on…and wouldn’t you know, i could use it after all my pregnancies i got a little venous insufficiency myself!

Melissa

so, seriously people.  this is another week where the herb i am drinking matches up with symptoms that present themselves in my family.  and this time it was me!

I woke up one morning with a swollen left gland under my jaw line.   it quickly turned into a sinus issue with incredible pain and a sore throat.  gargling with saltwater and turmeric powder really soothed the sore throat, works every time.  but i was still left with this awful sinus thing.  aha!  bayberry!

Michael Moore  suggests that it “increases lymph circulation and helps prevent the ineffiecient, poorly drained engorgements of the sinus membranes.”  it is very astringent, which can help tone atonic tissues.  in my notes from herb school, James Snow lists it as a stimulating anticatarrhal and decongestant.  the botanical or Latin name for bayberry is Myrica cerifera, but the species californica is also used…though less often.

so, I mixed up some bayberry…and added osha, thyme, balsam root (which i never would have thought of if it weren’t for drinking it earlier in this blog) and red root.  man, was it astringent!  that bayberry really puckers you up.  the tea was sorta red and had this dark, thick look to it…probably a combination of all the herbal magic going on.  I have to say, it really helped.  The next day, i was in much less pain in my sinuses and was feeling much less tired and sick as well.  Cheers to bayberry and friends.

but now i am left to wonder what herb is next?  and to hope that i don’t have to get sick to see that it works!

melissa

Berberis vulgaris   you knew when i would need you most.

last week i drank this tea…and again, i was pleasantly surprised that i did not hate it.  not that i think i hate herbs…it’s just that as a tea, i guess i expect them to taste nasty.  so, i usually prefer tincture.  which is nasty a times, but smaller doses, and quick to get down.  plus the alcohol sorta sometimes gives the illusion that i am having fun.  just kidding. 

So…barberry.  the day i drank it my family came down with a stomach bug.  puking, diarrhea, feeling tired.  these are some of the things that barberry is good for!  so, i brought some home and brewed it up, nice and strong.  and i made my three kids drink a cup…and my husband.  i just made a fun time of it, and told them…”ok, we’re gonna drink some nasty tea!” with a smile on my face.  the older two winced a little more, and with lots of coaxing about how they wouldn’t get sick if they drank this…they finally got it down.  truth be told, they both had the same initial reaction to tasting it….they’d rather get sick!  opun more reflection, they choked it down.  my youngest though…she had been throwing up already that day…and she was happy to drink her “nasty” tea…so she would get better.  and she was very pleased with herself.  and she did get better.  only one other kids threw up, and that was only once…with no other symptoms.  and the biggest kid, my husband :), he did get sick…but i think he didn’t get enough tea!

so…i am excited to see what this week brings….in tea form and otherwise!

peace…Melissa

Balsamorhiza sagittata

Balsam root is (at least in the herb jar, as i have not seen it in its natural habitat) a light, dry, and easily broken up piece of root.   maybe that is because it grow mostly on dry hillsides, so it needs to be porous enough to soak up as much water as it can when the rain does come.  Michael Moore talk about balsamroot as being a mix between the best parts of echinacea and osha for immune support/flu fighting.  sounds good to me!  and i just loved it as a tea.  it was lighter than i had expected when i saw how cloudy thee tea was.  the cloudiness led me to believe it would be very pungent.  i have plenty of balsamroot here for the drinking…so i for one and going to using a lot more of it.  maybe we could make it the new “it” herb!

and now onto drinking some barberry…time is ticking toward 3pm when i clock out.  so you’ll have to wait until tomorrow for the goods on Berberis vulgaris.

So, the food we eat should have the vitamins and nutrients that we need to live healthily. The fact that depleted soils and over-processing makes this near impossible is a serious problem for now and in the future as agri-business continues to over-cultivate the fields, dumping GMOs, pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers. For this reason, I’m in favor of food-based vitamins and it’s important, given the growing agricultural crisis, that the they be organic.

*******************

Based on the teachings of Dr. Bernard Jensen, and started by a previous  patient of his, these vitamins are 100%  organic, gluten-free, lactose-free, and have absolutely no fillers like stearates(the possibly unhealthy additive I’ve mentioned before here). Here’s what we carry of their line and the highlights as I see them:

Super Bio Balance

A multivitamin that focuses on the different systems of the body:

Digestive, Heart & Circulation, Glandular, Respiratory, Brain & Nervous, Vision-Eyes, Skeletal-Bone, Kidney & Urinary, Lymphatic, Muscular, Mucosa-Immunity, Immune, Skin, and Gums & Teeth.

And they include foods, such as acai, kelp, royal jelly, and tomatoes.

Bio-Organic Greens

An especially tasty, sugar-free greens powder that tastes fantastic in apple juice, or even water if you prefer. It includes benefits for brain health, the cardiovascular system, and will help clean and replenish during detox regimens.

Bio-Inflamin

Contains 400 mg of Turmeric extract with 95% curcumin, a potent Bowellin extract and 1200 gdu of Bromelain, as well as Ginger with 20% gingerols, all to help ease pain, increase joint comfort, and reduce inflamation.

Prosta-Health

A  powerful formula in an easily assimilated powder mix, including lignan from Norwegian spruce, Scandinavian Rye Pollen, Pumpkin Seed Meal, anti-inflammatory herbs, Lycopene, Maitake mushrooms, and Burdock root.

Detox Multi

Not a multivitamin, but a cleansing formula with added adaptogenic herbs to assist with lost energy during a detox program. Includes Black Walnut, Dandelion, Aloe Vera extract, and Licorice.

Bio-Carotene

A food-source carotenoid complex with 5,000 IU of beta carotene to help with skin and eyes.

so, last week, i trued anise seed.  Pimpinella anisum. i tried and i tried and i tried.  literally.  i burned two batches of the seeds as i attempted to simmer them in a pot on the stove.  theere they were all black and toasty, with not a drop of water left in the saucepan.  luckily, somehow the pot came clean with some scrubbing or i would have been buying a new one for Rainbow.  so, then i just infused the seeds.  i put the seeds in a mason jar and poured boiling water over them and left them for about 30 minutes or more.  turned out the water i used was brown, i couldn’t see as i filled the teapot up, but when i got a glass of water and washed my hands…there it was, brown water.  so, i dumped that tea too.  who knows what was making the water brown that day.  i gave up for the day…no anise tea.

forward to thursday, the following day…and i did the anise seed infusion method again.  and it worked.  clean water, no burnt seeds.  the tea was very pleasant.  sweet and light.  nothing too intense to write about…i mean, not that everything has to be about intensity, but i guess somewhere inside i hope for something really good to write about after i drink the tea every week.  this was not the case with anise, but isn’t that something special too?  just sweet.  pleasant.  light.  and medicinally speaking anise is a digestive remedy.  it is aromatic and good for bloating and gas.

and now this week….artichoke.  Cynara scolymus.  another herb used for the digestive tract, in a way.  but through the liver…which can consequently affect the digestion.  the leaves are used medicinally, as opposed to the immature flower of the globe artichoke, which we are all familiar with as an edible vegetable.  Artichoke is hepatoprotective (protective of the liver), a choleretic and cholegogue (gets the liver to produce bile and gets it flowing)…all of these relate to its very, very bitter taste.   which i can attest to.  i made an infusion of about 2 Tablespoons of the dried herb with 16 oz. of boiling water.  i let it sit for about 20 minutes, strained and drank.  it was really bitter, which i do not mind at all.  but it also had this slight gaggy quality.  i drank it down though, and felt a gurgle in my tummy shortly thereafter.  probably due to the bile flow, which stimulates the rest of the G.I. tract to get going.  and that leads me to remember that it can be an appetite stimulant.

Artichoke leaf also is known for its hypolipidaemic activity.   in other words, it can inhibit cholesterol biosynthesis.  there have been studies and clinical trials done to support this finding.  a great starting place for source of these articles is www.pubmed.com which is the National Library for Medicine website for scholarly articles and reviews.

that’s all for this week.  and last week too!

see you next time.

xoxomelissa

I’ve sometimes asked bewildered customers, “Why do you want to take a vitamin supplement?” The answer usually translates as some feeling, either real or imagined, that the food they are eating is not supplying what they need. And given the way food is grown these days and the way people are forced to eat quickly and on the run, it may often times be true that they are lacking in necessary nutrients. For many Asian cultures, digestion and proper assimilation begins when you start to assemble the food you will eat for a meal — the colors, the smells, the little tastes of one ingredient or another. These days, most peoples’ meals are assembled for them and little time is given to the pleasure of eating. In my humble opinion, vitamins are best found in a balanced diet of mostly organic foods. But if your 50+ hour work week doesn’t offer you the pleasure of leisurely meals made from scratch and your income doesn’t allow for organic food, then some sort of daily vitamin is probably not a bad idea. I would first try a Food-Based vitamin. This means that the vitamins actually come from food rather than extracted in a lab from food or chemical sources. The body recognizes them as food and thereby assimilates them better. There isn’t the need to pack the vitamin with 5,000% of your daily needs of some vitamins, because more of the vitamin is available. There isn’t that “dark-yellow urine” syndrome from some of these “mega-vitamins” that give you way more than you can use in one day simply so that an ample amount gets absorbed.

We carry several different brands of whole food vitamins, including Megafood, New Chapter, Bio Life Naturals, and Rainbow Light Organics.

Angelica archangelica.  sweet name.

it is a warming bitter…something not easily found in plant medicine.  most bitters are cooling in nature…so if you are chilly person and have digestive issues, this could be a great herb to try.  it also can bring on menses, can be useful for anorexia as it stimulates digestion, is a diaphoretic (induces sweating/moves the excess heat out), and for some that feel herbs have more of a spiritual place in their lives, it can bring protection and angelic presence.

so, this morning, after i had my Rainbow Roast (i am again hooked on the stuff)…i also put on a pot with about a tablespoon or more of angelica root.  and i forgot about it.  when i remembered, the water was gone and the root was a little toasted.  but not burnt…so i figured it was meant to be, and i added more water and set it to a simmer.  20 minutes later i strained it and had a nice hot cup of tea.  i was so pleasantly surprised  by the angelica.  i smelled really good and tasted even better.  it tasted like a broth and i immediately thought it would be a great idea to add this to a bone soup recipe or just a stock for soups.

I drank the whole cup of tea within the half hour, enjoying each sip as much as the last.  no needing to gulp it down like last week.  but then a strange thing happened.  i started to feel uncomfortable.  more emotionally, or energetically, i guess you could say.  i felt i needed to ground myself because i felt too open, too light.  it is hard to explain.  but it reminded me of panic attacks i used to have in my early 20’s…like i was floating.  and back then, i used to think i was dying, because i assumed that being relaxed, open and floating upwards were feeling one would have if they were dying.  the post angelica experience wasn’t as traumatic as those attacks and i know better how to take care of myself now…so, i talked it out with a co-worker, i did some deep breathing and had some five flower flower essence. and i came down.  and it was good to remember what life was like then in my 20’s, to see how far i have come, to see also that i am still me in some quirky ways too.

so…maybe that isn’t the right herb for me, or maybe it is and in jsut need to temper it with other herbs, to balance its strong reaction i had.  see, i don’t think it was a bad thing, those feeling are good for me to process and go through…but maybe in a more gentle way.  or maybe before bed would be nice with some valerian and poppy and mugwort.

thanks for reading along…stop by next week and see what tea is next!