Herbal Allergy Support + Sale!
Blooming manzanita
Hello beauties,
Happy spring! I hope you are enjoying some of the season’s best offerings… bare feet in grass, flowers above and below, birdsong. My favorite are all the baby animals in the farms nearby, especially the piglets!
And I hope you are being gentle with yourself and your people. In these times of great chaos and uncertainty, our nervous systems can get so jangled and wear our bodies down.
What helps you come back to the place where you can access presence, joy, and love?
Whatever it may be, it’s as important as anything else on your to-do list (or more!). Your glow light is the best medicine for you and the world, and the world needs all the medicine it can get right now.
xo Bex
P.S. Keep reading for herbal allergy sale, market updates, and a few pics from our travels.
Herbal Allergy Support
The bummer about spring for many folks is that all this blooming leads to itching and sneezing and feeling generally miserable! If you are plagued by allergy symptoms, we’ve got some herbal info and offerings for you!
Stinging Nettles
Me in our nettles patch
As many people know, Stinging Nettles have been traditionally used to ease seasonal allergy symptoms. With natural anti-histamine qualities, they tone down your body’s reactivity to pollen. They are most effective when taken before allergy season really kicks in, but it’s never too late to start! And if you’re not already, we recommend ingesting nettles in some way every day until the pollen cloud has cleared.
Nettles are popping up on our land right now, so if you have access to any, now is a good time to harvest! You can eat nettles fresh, but you’ll want to de-stem them for better texture and braise them to deactivate the chemical the causes the sting.
Once braised, you can use them like cooked spinach—a nettles saag with coconut milk and ginger is one of the most delicious allergy meds I can think of! You can also blend them into smoothies, baked goods, or pesto and freeze them for the weeks to come.
By far the easiest way to get nettles into your system is by taking tincture or a vinegar infusion. Nettles vinegar is super mineral rich, is excellent for the bones, blood, and hair, and can be taken as a medicinal shot or used in soups and salads.
I also love drying a whole bunch of nettles for tea and soups throughout the year. I always take some backpacking with me for a lightweight and delicious backcountry green. Just hang a bundle upside down out of direct sunlight until they’re crunchy dry.
Goldenrod
Goldenrod
Goldenrod is a lesser-known herbal remedy that supports MANY of the body’s systems, and it has been traditionally used for allergy relief. Its anti-histamine qualities, combined with its capacity to help the sinuses clear up, makes it a great match for anyone who gets stuffy and sneezy this time of year (or any time, really). I like to keep it on hand and take several doses (one full dropper each time) as needed throughout the day. Tincture is the way to go with goldenrod, as the tea is pretty bitter.
Elder Flower
Elder Flower
Elder flowers are the lacy old-timey flowers that give way to the more-famous berries, but they are potent medicine in their own right! They, too, have properties that help the body’s inflammatory response chill out and tone tissues in the nose and throat. If you can harvest your own flowers or get some from an herb shop, it makes a delicious, mild tea that’s good to drink regularly. It’s also quite effective in tincture form.
Breathe Easy
To make it simple, we’ve blended all three of these herbs into a single tincture. Their combined anti-histamine qualities, along with the unique offerings of each plant, makes this formula a fantastic ally to have at your side all spring long. And you might as well get a big one so you don’t run out! This blend is also helpful during smoke season and any time you have a cold or feel one coming on.
Farmers’ Market Updates
Medford Farmers Market
Spring also means that a new market seasons is upon us! If you live in Southern Oregon and want to find us in person, here’s our general market schedule for the summer. We’ll let you know when the Saturday Ashland market begins in May!
Medford at Hawthorn Park
Thursdays, 8:30-1:30
Grants Pass outside at F St. + 4th
Saturdays, 9-1
Travel Pics
Even though this farming-wildcrafting-medicine making-market going life can feel like an overabundance of work for most the year, it does allow for a long winter’s rest, and for that I am deeply grateful. This year, Seth and I traveled to the Yucatan Peninsula and the Carribean and ate the best food and saw all kinds of wild and human-made beauties. Here’s a little glimpse into what we like to do when we’re not Nymph-and-Woodsmanning (or maybe we always are?)!
xo Bex
Resources
Kloos, Scott. 2017. Pacific Northwest Medicinal Plants. Timber Press: Portland, Oregon.
Herbal Academy. https://theherbalacademy.com/
Disclaimer
For educational purposes only. This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.
