What’s brewing?

Foraging has recently become a hobby of mine, and if you ask anyone in my family you’ll hear various humorous stories about me mucking about in the woods this spring or eating parts of a tree on a walk. Doubtless I look less the wood nymph and more of a nutcase but I love it.
The interest in plants as medicine really started a long time ago, when my eldest daughter had chronic ear infections and I was skeptical about the amount of antibiotics her doctors kept prescribing. I felt that there must be another avenue to look into and that round after round of antibiotics couldn’t be good for her. After digging around on my own, I found that homeopaths suggested that garlic oil in the ears can help. I mentioned this to the doctor and was severely chastised and told “never to do that!”
Fast forward six years when my second daughter got an ear ache, guess what I was told; “Garlic oil in the ears is the first thing you should do. Antibiotics are really a last resort.” What a different tune! I’ve had a several other similar interactions involving my health and my husband’s which has really reshaped my thinking on the medicine we take. I now reach for herbal and holistic remedies before I try OTC or ask for prescriptions.

This past year I’ve taken a bigger leap into alternative medicine by creating more of my own. I especially enjoy making tinctures because they are so easy, yet potent. I’ve been making nettle tea and tinctures for a couple years for Husbands allergies, but this spring I expanded my horizons. On our last camping trip to Fort Flagler I came prepared and had a whole list of things I hoped to find, including yarrow, nettle, St. John’s Wort, plantain, and pineapple weed.

Rosemary oil. Used for hair products.

Armed with my gloves and bags I got a good amount of fresh nettle, which I intend to use for dye, since I already have plenty of tinctures. Yarrow was growing EVERYWHERe on the coast so I got a whole bag of that too. While there was a great deal on plantain as well, I couldn’t find it far enough from a road, so I’ll look for it another time. Right up on the fort I found St. John’s Wort growing too and I scored big on that. Pineapple weed, otherwise known as wild chamomile, loves to grow all over the sidewalks in our city, but I could not for the life of me find it in the woods or in a less toxic environment. Such a bummer! I grow chamomile but I was looking forward to boosting my supply since those tiny flowers last long.

Yarrow tincture

However, I was able to get enough yarrow and St. John’s Wort to make several tinctures, one of which is a combo of the two with some of my own lavender thrown in. A powerful anti anxiety brew!

St John’s Wort is a yellow flower but turns tinctures pink!

In addition to medicines I’ve been foraging for spruce tips in order to make beer. That has been a really fun experiment and several of the batches turned out super well. One batch did exploded once it was opened and one was grossly sweet, but most of them taste like a lager, like Blue Moon. I started making non grain beer since both Husband and I don’t do gluten and usually don’t eat wheat. Spruce tips are the new growth that emerge on spruces in the spring. They are very fun to pick and can be eaten right off the tree, resulting in a citrusy taste and a great boost of vitamin C.

I found some great blue spruce in the woods, there is also some small fir tips in there, which work just fine too.

I might have gotten a little spruce tip crazy, so now C and A can identify a spruce from a fir, and they point out spruce tips all the time, haha! I’m sure they will thank me later, right? Haha!

Spruce tips also make a great remedy for sore throats and coughs, so I’ve made a tincture of those too.

Looking forward to summer and fall foraging I’m compiling a list of things I’d like to add to my medicine cabinet or use in various projects, such as naturally dyeing clothes. So far my list has elderberries, sumac, conifer (not just the tips this time), and acorns. Rosemary, thyme, chamomile, oregano, and lavender are all doing well in my herb garden. I have plans to preserve those for cooking, medicine, and tinctures to last us till next blooming season.
Let me know if you have any herbs or plants you need “pruned” I’ll come help ya out! 😉

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