Herbal Experiments I'm Trying

Well, it's been a wacky fall and winter so far for me and mine.  Plant-wise, I just ran out of steam and quit doing any mowing along about August.  My husband had a medical emergency and came really close to dying.  That sort of blew my mind as far as getting any real blogging done.  He has recovered a lot, although he has a long way to go.

So, here's some of my plant activities.  I've made tinctures of passion flower, lemon balm, yarrow, and St. John's wort.  All are in 80 proof vodka.  I strained the SJW and put it in a dropper bottle, and I have used it a few times.  The others, I blush to say, I have not strained yet.  I can't believe it would hurt them any.  I will fill you in on how it goes when I do strain them. 

For some reason, I'm a little afraid of the passion flower.  I'm sure of my plant ID and I'm sure that it is a good herb for helping you relax and sleep.  I've read just enough stories of herbalists poisoning themselves that I move pretty cautiously.  And I don't know, but it seems kind of strong.  It smells kind of strong and bad and it has a lot of gooey liquid in it.  Glabrous is the herbalist word, right?  Nope, that means "hairless."  Mucilaginous is a better word.

I like the weedy winter look of my place with it unmown, but some of the stickers out there are vicious!  My daughter and I went out to make sure the well house was OK for the winter, and we both got our clothes covered.  I think the offender is called "Spanish Needles."  Ouch.  I wore thick gloves and the blasted things worked their way inside. 

I did a little research on medicinal uses for some of the plants I have in abundance here.  Most don't make the who's who list of favorite wild herbs.  For instance, I've seen exactly two straggling mulleins and zero echinacea in the three summers I've been out here.  What I have are mule-tail and Queen Anne's lace.  Lots and lots and lots of QAL!!  I had intentions of rigging up a box for drying them and making all kinds of lovely crafts.  I read about a wedding that was all done in dried QAL.  Wouldn't that be lovely?  But, no, mine all went to seed and sticker.  Wonder how many millions of them I will have next summer?



Anyway, I hope you all have a wonderful new year filled with all kinds of learning and lovely plants!  Always look for the medicine behind the stickers!!  And the silver lining in the clouds!