Herbs
Offerings: Homemade vinegars, teas, salves, fire cider, tinctures, infused herbal honeys, burning bundles, bath salts, food as medicine; local foraging walks with care; herbal workshops including making your own salves
Some winter herbal care
This is a time of year for rest, nourishment, care for the kidneys and water in the body, and deep restoration. Here are a few ways to work with an herb this winter, seaweed.
Seaweeds are amazing, and have a ton of minerals and nutrients that can feed your extracellular matrix and support a lot of your body systems, including the adrenal system, that helps you process stress. They can help ease tension and soreness, promote tissue repair, and lubricate the joints. You can find a great guide to seaweeds through Commonwealth Holistic Herbalism’s podcast, here and here. There are lots of edible varieties, and a little bit goes a long way. You can often find them in your local grocery store in the sushi section. You can also support your local seaweed farmers in Maine.
Throw a slice of kombu or other seaweed in when you’re cooking rice, soup or stew. Make a bone broth or shiitake mushroom broth with a little seaweed, garlic, ginger, miso, and greens. You can add in some Japanese Knotweed if your yard has this weed handy. This can gently support the joints over time and be helpful for arthritis conditions.
Make a foot bath, arm/hand bath or bath with seaweed, ginger, epsom salts and dried roses or lavender or chamomile tea bags, your choice. Put a pot of water to boil on the stove, add the seaweed and any other herbs you like, and wait for it to cool enough to put your feet in. If you’re running a bath, it’s easier to clean it up if you let it dry, then sweep it up- or you can use a coffee filter as a bag.
Soak some seaweed in warm water, and put it right on your shoulder, or wherever you feel sore or tight. You can wrap it with an ace bandage if you like. This can be really helpful for sprains and bruises, as well. You could put a salve or oil underneath the seaweed patch, like solomon’s seal and castor oil if there are some deeper joint conditions (make sure the solomon’s seal is cultivated/gardened/farmed, not wildcrafted or taken from the forest), and let this soak overnight. You can re-use the seaweed patch a number of times- let it dry, and soak it again when you are ready for more. When you are finished, the seaweed water and seaweed are great compost for plants.
*For educational purposes only, please check in with your own body and your health care team about using any herbs, herb-drug interactions, and any constitutional tendencies or conditions that may affect use.
