News — Herbal medicine

ECHINACEA: the facts about this commonly used herb Echinacea has been widely advertised as a go-to for colds and flus, specifically immunity. But what about this herb? Let's discuss the values of Echinacea and when and why it should be utilized. Its beautiful red flower tells us it has an affinity for the blood, thus a blood cleanser or detoxifier. As an alterative herb, Echinacea is of great importance in opening the channels of elimination which is an important part of the process of detoxification. Alterative herbs adjust the metabolic processes of the body. As an immunological alterative Echinacea enhances...

Let's talk about moistening herbs. MOST herbs, like 90% (a guesstimate), have a drying effect on the body. And when used long term this drying effect can, well, dry us out. Even people living in humid environments know that despite the weather our lifestyles are drying. Indoor living, automated environments, environmental toxins, polluted foods, excessive caffeine, inorganic skin and body products, daily showers all lead to drying of the body, internally and externally. So it's good to be able to identify herbs that moisten, and these herbs have what's called a DEMULCENT action. Demulcent is a term used to define...

Did you know that humans are designed to operate about 80% of the time in a parasympathetic state of the autonomic nervous system and 20% of the time utilizing the sympathetic state? This simply means that 80% of our time is designed to be doing things like relaxing, eating, digesting, having sex...things that involve no stress. The 20%, when the sympathetic system kicks in, is fight or flight... you know, running from tigers and wrestling alligators. How many of you are spending more than 20% of your time in high stress situations? Everyone, right?! So what happens is that the...

Herbalism is more complex than matching an herb to an illness. Herbalism is matching an herb to a person. We want to use the herbal energetics of a plant to match the energetic needs of the person so that body balance is achieved. One of the categorical platforms we can use to do this is TASTE. In Western Herbalism taste is broken into 5 categories, and each category is indicative of certain actions. This protocol enables us to determine how an herb will be useful in balancing body systems. Here are the 5 taste groups; pungent, bitter, salty, sour, sweet....

  Horsetail, or Equisetum varieties, can be found in riparian habitats.  As you can see here in the photos this dense community of Horsetail is growing prolifically on an island in Oak Creek.  It likes wet feet and or moist areas, so look for it when you are near water.  This variety we found is Equisetum hyemale, which is a non-leafy variety of Horsetail. Finding a lush, healthy and productive grouping is one key in wildcraft protocol.  Also be sure the plant is free from toxic habitat or treatment before wildcrafting for usage.  This particular grove of Horsetail was very...