Yarrow Tincture, my way

How do I make my Yarrow tincture?

Quite simply actually. First, I harvest the areal portion; newly opened flower heads with a few leaves; of this panacea of a plant friend. It must be a perfectly dry and sunny day. I lay the blossoms and leaves (stems removed) out on paper bags or a shady, airy spot, and let them wilt for a few days. i save the stems for my kids to play with, I ching style :)
I place all the flowers and leaves into my handy quart sized jar until gently full. Then, I cover the herb with either vodka, grain/water dilution, or a nice brandy. There is a kind of scotch you can use too ... have to go back and remember what that is.
Then I cap and label, and put it up in a cabinet for six weeks. Any time after that you can strain and bottle.
I have used a blender too even with the stems and rendered wonderful tincture. I just love the look of the flowers floating in the jar :)

This is a simple kitchen folk method. Nothing complicated, nothing scary. Enjoy!

I have this on hand everywhere. My daughter gets spring nosebleeds so come April I throw a bottle into her bag too. I use it for colds, fevers, stomach upset, sinusitis, bug bites, bug repellent, poison ivy (in the company of mugwort), and a million other things!

I had many lovely photos - but they all went away last summer with a computer crash. So I'm on a mission come July!

Herbal Parenting 2 - Jinxed!

I guess when you pack yourself a first aid kit, and put it in your car, you'd better expect to use it. After my daughter cutting her knee, I figured we met quota for spring. Unfortunately, that nice thought was followed up by her whacking little brother in the mouth with a hoe. On accident of course, but when you're eight and gushing blood from your face, blame isn't on the radar. So this time, the call I got was in reverse and very short:

"Mom - uhh, come down quick. He's bleeding, like, a LOT. I accidentally hit him with the hoe."

"Shit" - click.

This is when a two minute drive suddenly takes 30 seconds.

The kids came walking down from the path towards the driveway and I took the freshly packed -but not completed- first aid set out of my hatchback. The only actual medicine I had added yet(tissues, towels, cotton, and ice packs were there) was a bottle of Yarrow tincture. Which, of course, is often the first thing I grab. It cleans the wound and staunches the bleeding. Unfortunately it smarts a bit, but in this case it was hardly more than the cut already hurt.

So tissues were quickly unravelled, moistened with yarrow, and applied to the cut.

At home, our next application was fresh Comfrey root. Thank Goddess for gardens. The slippery sliver of fresh inner root sealed itself to the cut as though it were skin. This was good since there was a wee bit of lip missing ... and I wanted to ensure proper closure and minimize scarring. Of course, the wound was not deep enough to merit the no comfrey policy.

When the cut was comfortable enough to remove the root, we then added a little paste of smooshed fresh comfrey root and leaf, dried comfrey root, and a little Goldenseal powder for good measure. This got it healing quite speedily by the next day. Our follow up measure was just a mixture of Comfrey/Goldenseal powder held on by a band-aid. Now it's good to go with a little bit of healing balm.

Sheesh!

And they weren't even gardening! Nope. They were running from a mad swan.

Decanting magic

Blog Party ~ Harvesting for winter

Yesterday and today I've been going through my jars of tinctures that have not yet been strained. I have a lot of tinctures that I put up, and then just left ......... decanting them now means they will have extracted for thirteen moons :). I missed quite a bit of harvesting this year. The St. Johnswort was scarce, and mugwort, yarrow, and Goldenrod I have in plenty.

The little jar in the photo that is empty, was filled with wild oregano and vodka. It grows in abundance around my home. I made it to stave off colds and viruses. I expected it to be very hot and spicy, like the fresh plant tastes, but to my surprise, it's exquisitely sweet! Very much like my Red Bee Balm (Monarda Didyma) in fact. I can see clearly how herbalists would liken them to each other. The tincture is so lovely to take, and carries a gentle yet determined medicine; opening the throat and relieving start up congestion. I could also see it being helpful for an earache.

I strained two quarts of beautiful crystal green Yarrow blossom tincture. In the past I have often put the yarrow and alcohol into the blender, yielding a potent, cloudy green-brown tincture. This time I had carefully cut all the blossoms and little leaflets off of the stalk and tinctured them whole. I am curious if it carries any difference. It *feels* like fairy tincture. This is a medicine my whole family uses quite often. It's my daughters main herbal ally - she uses it for cooling and toning herself down (she is your classic Pitta-Kapha) especially in the Spring season. She gets flooding nosebleeds, stomach fermentation, and hot feet. If she can't throw herself into cool water to swim, Yarrow does the trick. We also use it for colds, flu, sore throats, and muscle injury, and topically for wounds if needed. Susun Weed recommends a spray to repel mosquitos, which I have tried somewhat but can't vouch entirely because I can't resist adding other ingredients - so I don't really know which one is working.

Mugwort tincture was even older - I found a tincture I made two years ago! Sheesh! That got strained too. I love this Artemisia for right before my Moonflow, when my womb swells with pressure and tension. It warms and releases muscle tension in the uterus, while toning the blood and digestion. Not to mention it's lunar energy helps! A mugwort pillow helps to deepen already potent dreamtime during menses - but be sure to ask the plant for guidance or she may just get into mischief!

And a big beautiful quart of pinky-hued red clover blossom tinctured in brandy. Yum! We love this for it's life nourishing properties and for keeping the libido healthy. I recommend the nourishing infusions on a regular basis - but the tincture has it's merit too. It's lovely when I am feeling too masculine - and the world is wearing me down. It reminds me that *soft* is strong, and seems to beautifully restore my resilient nature and femininity. Not to mention that red Clover is a bosom buddy .... a superb breast tonic. I love the entry on Red Clover in my beloved book: Herbal Rituals by Judith Berger .

Last but not least, Wormwood tincture. This is a valuable staple for us, if anyone has terrible stomach pains or indigestion, 4-5 drops of tincture does the trick. Great for long car rides. I also use it as part of a lyme protocol, as an anti parasitic and alterative, again at a very low dose, about 3-4 drops 2-3x a day. It seems also to help keep joints cool, taking down low grade swelling or aches. And I wouldn't be surprised if she helps with fertility - she seeds and sows prolifically! I had one plant last year - and thirty this year! A bundle of this luminous plant, makes a lovely silver wand for the mantle or altar. Athena would be proud.