Welcome dear friends to my first blog post in a while, and the first to be sent over to my email subscribers. This mode of sharing is all new to me; those who have followed me on Instagram for a while know that its been my primary platform for sharing snippets of our daily life for years now. In my quest to be more mindful of my own social media use while still being able to fulfil my desire to share with you all, I am moving towards this form of communication.
As we amble through the second half of summer, from the celebration of harvest at Lammas to the Autumn equinox in September, I am now finishing off some of the herbal preparations I started a few weeks ago; oxymels, oil infusions and tinctures sit on my shelves waiting to be sieved from the plant matter and decanted into amber glass bottles to be used throughout the year. In this post, I will share with you a couple of recipes that area easy to create at home using plants available in the summer - some grown myself, some foraged. Remember that there's nothing wrong with using bought in dried herbs and plants to make these remedies either! Just try and make sure you buy them from a reputable source so you can be sure of the quality.
Self-Heal Oxymel
This wonderful plant ally grows everywhere around us in the summer. Nestled in the grass on your average lawn, at the park, or in any meadow or woodland. She is known as Self-heal for her wide range of medicinal actions, as you would expect from the name. She has a long history of western folk use, but sadly is underused in contemporary western herbal medicine. Great for first aid for cuts and wounds, staunching bleeding and knitting wounds together but also to be taken internally as a tea for treating flu, fevers or diarrhoea. The plant has antiviral properties, and has marked antioxidant activity.
An oxymel is a preparation of honey and vinegar and are particularly good for cold and flu remedies - which made Self-heal the perfect plant to incorporate into an oxymel!
Ingredients:
Apple Cider Vinegar {with the mother}
Local Honey {raw - even better!}
A jar full of self-heal plant.
Method:
Making an oxymel is really easy and so satisfying. I'm sure there are several different ways of doing it, but my method was inspired by the herbalist April Graham (@she_is_of_the_woods) on Instagram - she has a wonderful video tutorial up here on YouTube if you'd like to watch!
So firstly, fill up a glass jar full of plant matter. Not too tight - you want the liquid to be able to move through the plant. I use a 50/50 ratio to my oxymels, but you can really play around with that and add more or less of the other - both the vinegar and the honey preserves the plant so it'll be ok either way. Add your vinegar to the half way mark, then your liquid honey! If using raw honey you'll have to warm up into a liquid first.
Give the jar a little shake to mix, and make sure the plant matter is covered with the mixture. This is then left for up to 6 weeks in a cool, dark place - then strained to leave you with the oxymel! This can be take by the spoonful as and when needed.
I also dried some of the Self-heal to drink as a tea for an occasional immune boost too!
St John's Wort Tincture
This wonderful plant is pure sunshine, a mid-sized perennial with yellow flowers found on road banks, rough grassland meadows and open woodland. I harvested mine from the garden, where it grows in big ,wild bunches here and there. St John's Wort has become well known as a herb for treating depression and SAD - but it's also an antiseptic wound herb of ancient repute as well as the sun herb of midsummer and a protector against evil and unseen influences. This plant strengthens the immune system, protects the liver, is antiviral and reduces pain - indeed a plant for support through life-cycle changes.
I often make tinctures out of herbs and plants; I find it to be a simple way to take in the many benefits of the plant. A tincture is an alcohol and water extract; the alcohol solution extracts the properties of the plant as well as preserving. Vodka is preferred to make tinctures as it has no flavour of its own, but you can also use whisky, brandy or rum. Alcohol content needs to be at least 20-25% or above to adequately preserve it.
Ingredients:
A jar of St John's Wort flowering tops
Vodka
Method:
Put the flowering tops in a clear jar, again - fill it up but don't pack it in too tightly. Pour on the vodka until the herb is submerged, put a lid on the jar and give it a shake to remove any air bubbles. Check to make sure the flowers are completely covered, and top up with more vodka to the top of the jar if necessary.
Put the jar in a cool dark place for around 6 weeks, or until you can see the flowers have faded and the liquid is a reddish colour. Strain, bottle & label - and you're done! I store my tinctures in amber glass bottles (300ml syrup bottles) and use smaller dropper bottles of 30/50ml for daily use as it makes it easier to dose.
Dose; Around 1 to 4ml three times a day.
Herbal Infused Oils
I absolutely love making infused oil - such a wonderful way to get the benefits of plants and herbs! Oil is mostly used to extract plants for external use on the skin - so pick a plant or herb that has qualities that are beneficial to the skin. This summer I've made infused oils using calendula, plantain, lavender, St John's Wort and comfrey. Each of these plants have different qualities and effects (for example, lavender has a calming and soothing effect while plantain sooths stings and bites, and comfrey has a healing an anti-inflammatory effect.
Ingredients:
A jar full of dried plant matter of choice!
Organic Olive Oil
Method;
Fill your clear jar with your plant, and cover with the oil, shake to remove the air bubbles and submerge all the plant, and leave to infuse for a few weeks. Strain, bottle and label!
Which plant you use for your oil will determine whether you use fresh or dried plant - I use fresh flowers for my St John's Wort as you get such a wonderful colour - but some plants have a high water content which could cause your oil to go rancid - I usually dry all my herbs to be on the safe side, and at least I have them to hand then whenever I feel called to use them.
There is also a quicker way to infuse oil if you really don't wait to weeks for it infuse! For this method you'll need to heat up the oil & plant together in a broiler for a few hours on low heat to infuse, then strain & bottle once cool.
And what to do with your lovely infused oil once it's ready? Well, you can apply directly to your skin as it is, or you can create balms and ointments by combining the oil with other ingredients such as beeswax or butters - I'll write another post soon with recipes for healing balms.
Remember, the best way to find out what works and what doesn't, is to try it yourself. Get to know the plants and herbs that grow around you more intimately. Experiment with what method works best for each plant, and release your inner-herbalist
Recommended books;
Hedgerow Medicine - Julie Bruton-Seal & Matthew Seal..