I'm thrilled to finally be adding some new herbals to the website that I spent all Spring, Summer and Fall growing, loving, tickling, singing too, harvesting and now are ready to be shared! 

Even though I had to leave behind my ever so loved food and medicine garden in California, I was able to harvest a little bit from almost everything before setting off on this new journey. And now, as I cozy up for the Winter I'm busy planning out my new garden space where there is sure to be an abundance of herbals in the years to come.

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Clary sage was once thought to make people immortal and many believed that it could clarify the brain, the eyes and even the “inner eye”, and that those who drank a tea of the leaves and flowers could see the future. Today, clary sage is used as a flavoring in everything from cigarettes and omelets to muscatel wine, but it does have many medicinal properties too. In fact, it has a medicinal pedigree going back to the ancient Greeks, but it's probably not the first herb you think of to treat complaints like hot flashes, indigestion and anxiety.

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Mallow is one of the earliest cited plants in recorded literature. Horace mentions it in reference to his own diet, which he describes as very simple: "Me pascunt olivae, me cichorea, me malvae" ("As for me, olives, endives, and mallows provide sustenance")

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“A glass of absinthe is as poetical as anything in the world, what difference is there between a glass of absinthe and a sunset.” - Oscar Wilde

I tend to have interest in anything historical and/or herb related and I'm a great fan of herbal liqures, wines, beers, sodas etc. I’ve made beer, I’ve made wine, I’m working on sodas and I’m intrigued by liquors. I’ll probably never make this but non-the-less very interested by the medicinal history. I’m also deeply intrigued by some of our most controversial and self-impoverished artists, writers, poets, musicians, free-thinkers, and the like and find it fascinating that this herbal drink was the "beaverage du jour" or drink of choice among these great thinkers in the mid to late 19th century. It inspired many and appeared in works by Pablo Picasso and Vincent Van Gogh, it was drank by the scandalous playwright Oscar Wilde, the eccentric Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, the poets Charles Baudelaire and Edgar Allen Poe, and the famous 20th century author Ernest Hemingway, just to mention a few....intriguing right? I’d say so.

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The papaya has been regarded as one of the most valuable of tropical fruits and was first cultivated in Mexico several centuries before the emergence of the Mesoamerian classic cultures, but is native to the tropics of the Americas. Christopher Columbus reportedly called Carica papaya "the fruit of the angels" because they are rich sources of antioxidant nutrients, minerals and fiber.

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The use of medicinal clay in folk medicine goes way back to prehistoric times and was first recorded in ancient Mesopotamia. The indigenous peoples around the world still use a wide variety of clays for medicinal purposes - primarily for external applications, such as the clay baths, but also internally. Clay is one of the most effective natural intestinal detoxifying agents available to us and has been used for hundreds of years by native tribes around the globe. Among the clays most commonly used for medicinal purposes are kaolin and the smectite clays such as bentonite, montmorillonite, and Fuller's earth.

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Growing up as a child with extreme asthma, I spent my initial herbal learning years trying to understand the whats and whys of this condition.  Was it stress, weak immune system, our animals, what? I grew up in a non smoking home with a health freak mother and an environment that was cleaner than any hospital. So why was I having such a hard time. Ultimately, I believe it was stress induced asthma, and I had to find a way to control it.

So, being dependent on an inhaler for what seemed most of my childhood, and despising that I felt  'addicted' to this silly breathing apparatus, I searched for alternatives. I first turned to eucalyptus essential oil to ease my breathing troubles. I found that by simply inhaling straight from the bottle, my whole body relaxed. This was simply amazing to me. I mean really...it really was amazing. I had control for the first time, not my inhaler. So now that I could relax enough to catch my breath, I thought, maybe I needed to strengthen my lungs and immune system. I was on the hunt for herbs and oils that were going to help me breath. I so wanted to just breath. Sounds silly to those who have never suffered an asthma attack, but for those who have, not being able to breath is hell.

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Chaparral is one of the most widespread plants found on the desert floor, and some of them are noted to be the oldest living plants in the world. Expansive areas of these shrubs are found growing throughout the desert in western San Bernardino County, and some near Ridgecrest Ca are estimated to be 11,000 years old. Botanists believe that many of surrounding plants are clones of these original plants. Chaparral is regarded as one of the most adaptable desert plants in the world; as it was one of the first to grow back in Yucca Flats after the 1962 nuclear bomb tests done there.

Also known as the "creosote bush," Larrea tridentata is a flowering evergreen shrub that's native to Southwestern U.S. and northern Mexico. One interesting characteristic of this plant is that it produces a sap that prevents competing species from growing near it. So this is why we usually see just this plant species in Chaparral populated ares. Also, its extremely bitter taste keeps it safe from animals that would otherwise graze upon it. The common name Chaparral derives from the Spanish chaparro, meaning "evergreen oak," and the name "creosote bush" comes from the smell that the plant exudes when it rains.
As a medicinal herb, Indians of the Southwestern desert regions used the sap as a sunscreen, as the sticky resin is known to screen against ultraviolet radiation. The dried herb, when brewed in tea has been used for numerous aliments and appears to help the body rid itself of parasites as well as chemical toxins. Internal use is not recommended unless under the care of a qualified health care professional. Chaparral contains saponins and medicinal qualities that are especially beneficial to the skin. Applied to the skin, chaparral can have a remarkable healing effect on dandruff, eczema, herpes, cold sores, psoriasis, and contact dermatitis.

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Marrubrium vulgaris is one of the first non-native herbs I learned when I was working as field biologist for Cal State Stanislas to protect native species. I knew the plant as a cough remedy and a candy, but didn't have much experience recognizing the plant back then. In college as a horticulture student we studied landscaping plants rather than "wild" plants; which is truly where my heart was. But none the less, I learned a lot.

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I love seeing little herb gardens of plantain growing in the cracks of people's driveways. These "weeds" are far too often plucked out (just like dandelions) but I have my hopes. Do you ever notice how Mother Nature plops down herbs in the most convenient spots. This mighty strong and stubborn herb isn't that tough by accident you know. Plantain, whether plucked, stomped, pulled or crushed, never seems to die; in fact, it's so resilient, it'll grow where nothing else will. To me- that's a trooper!

Plantain is defiantly one herb that I put at the top of my list as a great remedy for coughs, lung congestion, hoarseness and anything else where excessive mucus is a problem. This particular herb is a good substitute for slippery elm which is disappearing due to irresponsible wild crafting practices, commercial logging, and Dutch elm disease. You can make a simple tea or a syrup (I like to add fresh ginger to my plantain syrup as well) and use whenever a hacking cough starts. Buy dried plantain here.

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