Soup's On with Astragalus

     

     It’s that time of year; the weather is changing, everyone we come in contact with is sniffling and hacking and we are indoors more where the air is stagnant and germs fester.  It is also the time of year to simmer big pots of soup, stew, and other hearty fare.  This is the time of year my family sits down at the table with a bowl in the center and I tell them what roots and herbs to look for and discard into that bowl.  Bay leaves are a common such herb.  I have friends that only include one bay leaf in their spaghetti sauce and the unfortunate finder does the dishes that night.  We have a system in place to prevent that; I cook, we all load the dishwasher, my hubby washes the pots and my daughter much to her chagrin empties the dishwasher and sink of the clean dishes so I can add lots of good things to my cooking. Bay leaf, reishi mushrooms and my favorite astragalus root go in everything that simmers for any length of time. Garlic, onions, ginger and turmeric make very frequent appearances.

      I learned about astragalus when I was first learning about herbs and was enchanted.   I use them as an immune tonic in cooking.  They are slightly sweet tasting but you will not detect a flavor when cooked with other foods.  They are a slightly warming herb. They help prevent colds, influenza, bronchitis, pneumonia and other such viruses.  They are my alternative to a flu shot. I will not say not to get a flu shot if you have made a conscious choice and feel comfortable with it.  I have chosen not to for myself and my family. 

            Astragalus membranaceua is part of the pea family.  The root is harvested in autumn from four year old plants.  It is sliced and dried.  It is often referred to as a tongue depressor from the shape after slicing.  You can also find it sliced in small rounds but this is really hard to detect until you have it in your mouth.  It’s a root so it is fiberous and difficult to chew. Many use it to stir their tea, keeping the root in the tea and using it repeatedly. These methods work great as an immune tonic.  For other medicinal purposes a tincture of the root or a decoction should be made.

 The Chinese refer to astragalus as Huang Qi meaning Yellow Leader.  The healthy roots are yellow in color and it is a leader in tonic herbs.  It is thought of as a spleen tonic, and can be used for lack of appetite, organ prolapse, fatigue, and wasting and thirsting syndrome.  Astragalus strengthens the lung qi and, because the lungs help create wei qi; it is able to strengthen this qi. Wei qi is the protective energy that helps prevent illness caused by external pernicious influences.  When the wei qi is deficient, people can get sick more easily, sweat too much or not enough, and develop sores that won’t come to a head.  In addition, by strengthening the wei qi, this herb reduces excessive sweating, menopausal sweating, and night sweats and promotes suppuration of boils and carbuncles.[1]

American research has focused on the ability of astragalus to restore normal immune function in cancer patients.  Clinical evidence suggests that patients under going chemotherapy or radiotherapy recover faster and live longer if given astragalus concurrently.[2]

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[1] Winson, David and Steven Maimes. Adaptogens: Herbs for Strength, Stamina, and Stress Relief. Rochester, VT: Healing Arts Press, 2007. pg. 147-149

[2] Chevallier, Andrew. Encyclopedia of Herbal Medicine: The Definitive Reference to 550 Herbs and Remedies for Common Ailments. New York: A Dorling Kindersley Book, 1996. pg. 68

Holiday Market Place

   Spirit of Giving:

Holiday Marketplace 2013

Saturday, November 30

10 am to 4 pm

61 Echo Lake Road, Watertown, CT

Join us as we celebrate Small Business Saturday.

All original work by local artists and artisans.

A great opportunity for all your holiday shopping needs

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      I'm so excited!!!!! I'm getting ready for my first craft fair.  I will be joining many local artists and artisans at the Spirit of Giving: Holiday Market Place in Watertown, CT, on November 30. A table, tablecloth and display dishes are all ready.  A beautiful shelf was sanded and painted by my amazing hubby.  Products have been lovingly formed, bottled, wrapped and labeled.  New business cards and brochures printed.
     I have new lip balms to show case.  Besides my lavender lip balm and orange & clove I now have Bee's Knees ( a rip on that other Bee featuring mint and rosemary) and chocolate mint.  They not only smell great but make your lips moist and soft.  A great stocking stuffer or special treat.  I hate carrying them so I have a tube every where I could possibly think of - my vanity, my bedside table, office drawer, and in my car.
     I have a new treat as well, cuticle salve.  It is perfect for  winter and easy to use.  It comes in a handy tube.  Instead of digging into a tin of salve you can just wipe it on.  It works great on dry cracked heals and can double as a lip balm.
     Plus soap in a generous six ounce bar, lotions, toner, vanilla sugar scrub and cleanser.  Everything you and your friends need for beautiful skin.

Exfoliating Cleanser

     Daylight savings time has come again.  My body did not recognize this arbitrary change and so I was awake in the wee hours of the morning.  Sometime before 5. Not one clock in my house agrees with another so I am not really sure.  So, with those luxurious quiet hours I made a batch of cleanser.  It is a recipe I adapted of Rosemary Gladstar's miracle grains.  She gives the recipe in her book Rosemary Gladstar's Family Herbal (now published as Rosemary Gladstar's Recipes for Vibrant Health).  What I love is that you could actually eat your cleanser.  It wouldn't taste very good but you could eat it.  That's what I want to put on my skin.  Something safe enough to eat.  Something not filled with ingredients I can not pronounce.  Something that makes my skin look and feel great.

     This cleanser exfoliates with the addition of ground almonds and poppy seeds.  It calms the skin with oatmeal, lavender blossoms and calendula flowers.  It is bound together with kaolin clay.  A little bit mixed with water is a great cleanser.  Letting it dry on the skin makes for a quick mask.  Mix a spoonful with honey and now you have a moisturizing mask.  You don't want to add wet ingredients to the mix until you are ready to use it or it will grow green fuzzy sweaters as my auntie would say.  I use it at night followed by a generous dose of my face & body lotion.  My daughter uses it sporadically depending on her skin.  She finds a light mask helps her when she breaks out.

Bliss Balls

     In September I took a class offered by the Connecticut Herb Association (CHA) that Guido Mase was teaching on making medicine.  Guido taught one weekend during my advanced herbal studies and I was eager to glean more nuggets of wisdom he may have to offer.  That day he made bliss balls, fire cider and an herbal decongestant tincture.  The recipes can be found on his blog A Radicle Guido Mase.
     This morning I made my version of his bliss balls or balls of bliss as they were aptly named that day.  When we made them in class we used 2 Tbsp of maple syrup.  This was not sweet enough for my family - plenty for me.  Though I think the molasses was an unexpected taste for my brood.  I love them.  And this is an awesome way for people to take herbs that may be put off by a tea or tincture.  It's like eating candy or truffles. The herbs used are great for boosting the immune system.  I use both of them in a whole form (as opposed to powdered) in my winter soups, stews or anything that is simmered for any length of time.

     Here is my recipe:

Bliss Balls:
16 oz jar natural peanut butter (just peanuts and salt)
1 cup molasses
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 cups raw cacao powder
4 Tbsp. reishi powder
4 Tbsp astragalus root powder
unsweetened coconut flakes to roll them in

Mix peanut butter, molasses and maple syrup together.  Add the herbs and mix well.  Add the cacao powder and mix well.  I used a small scoop (1 1/4" across) and then rolled into balls and then rolled in the coconut.  This made 64 balls of bliss.  Three a day would be a serving.

Calendula

      

      Calendula officinalis is a beautiful garden addition.  It is sometimes called pot marigold but this not to be confused with the many marigold annuals sold each year.  The flowers are used fresh or dried and are one of the best herbs for treating local skin problems.  They can be used where there is inflammation on the skin whether it is due to infection or physical damage.  They can be used on wounds, bruises or strains.  they also benefit slow-healing wounds and skin ulcers,  And they can treat minor burns and scalds where treatment may be with a lotion, a poultice or compress. Because of their affinity for the skin I use them in making my lip balm and cleansing grains.  I recently made a batch of salve for a friend.  She has a scar from surgery and wanted something healing to apply.  It is luscious.  It is great on dry chapped skin, as a cuticle treatment or as part of a first aid kit.  This salve is now part of my offerings.

     Internally calendula can aid digestive inflammation or ulcers. They can be used in the relief of gallbladder complaints and many vague digestive complaints called indigestion.  Calendula is anti-fungal and can be used internally and externally to combat such infections. I would brew calendula as a tea for internal use.
      Calendula can be applied externally to improve lymphatic drainage from wounds and is bacteriostatic meaning that it will not kill bacteria but prevent the extension of infection. It works well with people who are "bone weary."
     Calendula is a great addition to soups in the winter as they warm and protect against wind and chill. Petals can be sprinkled on top of salads to add color as well as health benefits. The possibilities are endless.

Toner and Sugar Scrub

     Fall is the season I come alive both figuratively and literally.  I was born in October in the wee hours of the morning.  It seems to have set the pattern for my life. I am a morning person.  I wake early and create what I need to before most people (or most people in my house) are awake.  That may be cleaning, cooking, medicine or beauty products.
     Saturday morning I was up making a fresh batch of toner and vanilla sugar scrub.  For the toner calendula flowers need to steep in hot water a few hours.  The water is deeply colored from the orange blossoms.  I mix it with witch hazel.  I use this daily as part of my beauty routine.

     The sugar scrub is a combination of coconut oil and sugar.  I usually add a few drops of essential oil but this time I used vanilla sugar.  Any time I use vanilla beans I take the pods and stick them in a jar of sugar.  This infuses the sugar with flavor and a heavenly scent.  I often use this in cooking for added flavor.  In one of those middle of the night inspirations I thought to put it in the sugar scrub.  Yum!  It smells divine.  The sugar makes it a gentle exfoliater as opposed to a salt scrub.  It can be used any where on the body.  I'd use a little caution on the face though I tend not to use it there.  Friends who have tried the sugar scrub have come up with additional uses. I have one friend who uses it on her bikini line after shaving to prevent those little red bumps.  I must say I was skeptical at first but it really does the job.  Another uses the scrub on his dry itchy psoriasis patches.

      I also started three batches of tincture.  These will be steeped for six weeks and are part of a menopausal formula.

Autumn Olive

Last year my hubby mentioned we had to small trees growing on the bank of our front yard.  He thought our crabapple had spread its wings.  This year as they grew it was obvious they were not crabapples but some other fruit barring tree. One I was unsure of but soon discovered was an Autumn Olive. By this time I had already popped a berry or two in mouth and determined they were pretty good.  They weren’t completely red at this point. It’s an invasive plant I was told.  Now, I knew where to look.  I pulled out my book Invasive Plant Medicine by Timothy Scott and there he was. Steve Brill’s name kept popping up as well.

Elaeagnus umbellate meaning sacred olive tree is from the Greek elaia (olive tree) and agnos (sacred).  The tree originates in China, Korea and Japan and was brought to the United States in the 1800s along with the Russian Olive as a supplemental food source, ornamental use, as a fast growing wind break and as a nitrogen fixing crop.  The Autumn Olive is found throughout  the eastern half of the United States and the Russian Olive is found more in the central and Western United States. 

In Traditional Chinese Medicine the stems and leaves are considered bland, cool and associated with the liver. They dispel wind and dampness, reduce swelling and stagnation. In Western Medicine the fruit is considered antimicrobial and an antioxidant.  The berries contains vitamins A, B1, B2, C, and E, beta-carotene, lycopene, boran, calcium, carbohydrates, protein, chromium, copper, fat, fiber, folic acid, iron, magnesium, manganese, niacin, phosphorus, potassium, tryptophan, and zinc. The lycopene levels are up to 17 times more abundant than in raw tomatoes.  Research has been done in use with cancer.  A USDA study has shown the berries inhibit the proliferation of human leukemia cancer cells and human lung epithelial cancer cells.

As a food the berries can be made into jams, jellies, and preserves, made into fruit leather, or cooked with other foods.  In Asia an alcoholic beverage is made from them.  This year our trees are loaded with berries. I read that when they are completely ripe you can run your fingers over the berries and they will drop right into your bowl.  This morning I tested that theory and harvested 16 cups of berries in about 15 minutes. Leaves came with the berries as I rolled them off the stem and into my bowl.  Tapping the bowl gently brought the leaves to the top and were easy to pick out once I was done collecting what I needed. I left plenty for the birds and animals and a few more harvests.  From the grasses matted down in front of the tree I believe Mama Bear is enjoying the fruit.

The berries are the size of a small blueberry.  They grow in clusters.  They start out green and turn a deep red.  Today’s harvest was mixed with some orange juice, cinnamon, clove and honey and cooked into a jam. It was my own variation of one of Steve Brill’s recipes.  I then ran it through the food mill to get rid of the seeds.  I ended it up with 7 cups of jam canned and ready to enjoy later.  I have a half jar to enjoy today with supper.