Gardening with Garlic

 This week we had our first forecast for freezing weather. When I learned that I knew I had to get my garlic bulbs in the ground before I lost my chance. Garlic, like most plants grown from bulbs, can be set in the fall and harvested in the spring and summer.

Most people are familiar with fresh garlic, but if you're not I suggest grabbing some fresh from the grocery store or market. I know a lot of people use powdered, granulated, and minced garlic for cooking, but when it comes to using garlic as a medicinal, you absolutely have to go for the organic, fresh, whole heads of garlic.

And when it comes to planting, all you have to do is put those fresh organic cloves right back in the ground!

I recommend the following video for getting the technique down (so easy).



The video basically listed the following simple directions:
1. Just pull the head apart and save the biggest cloves for planting.

2. Place them in the soil, about an inch under the surface, roots down. Give them some room. Four to six inches in radius should be sufficient.

3.  After all of the cloves are in the ground, nice and nestled, cover your bed with mulch. Dried leaves are perfect.

Look for flat-bladed sprouts in late winter!

Happy planting, folks!

Look forward to the medicinal uses of Allium sativum published to the Nu Era Blog. And remember to "like" our facebook page for timelier updates!

Trauma Treatment

In this post I’m going to share my experience with treating bruising and sore muscles with some classic vulneraries. Vulnerary herbs are medicinal-grade plant preparations that speed healing. They are often external applications, which means that you apply the plant extracts (oil, usually) directly onto the skin in the affected areas.

Trauma refers to impactful injuries brought on by a sudden or extraordinary circumstances. These types of injury can range wildly: knots in soft muscles, bruising, sore joints, stretched muscles, bumps on the head, swelling. Very serious trauma will require immediate emergency care and most likely a scary experience in a hospital or ambulance. Treatment with the following botanicals is only appropriate in the days and weeks after you’ve been checked out by professionals, patched up, and sent home. This information is not a substitute for medical care. 

The formula and treatment I am going to share is one I customized for myself after an unfortunate incident, when I got into an accident on my bike.  I didn’t have any broken skin, but I had a bad bump on the head, a lot of tension in the neck and shoulders, swelling on my hip and side, a bruised ankle and wrist, and nervous tension.

Classic Vulneraries and Anti-inflammatories for Physical Trauma: 

Calendula or Marigold- Calendula officianalis

You may remember calendula from my summer post about sunburn! The same mechanism of action that helps to heal sunburns on the surface of the skin also penetrates to bruised tissue and damaged stomach lining. When drank as a tea, the moistening and healing properties will treat the pain and internal ulcers of the stomach lining. Applied as an oil or in a salve, calendula diminishes vascular damage on the surface of skin.

 Arnica - Arnica montana      

Arnica is a member of the same taxonomical family as calendula, the Composite Flower family. It’s effect in healing damaged tissue is on par with that of calendula but more care must be taken with Arnica, as it is more stimulating. It can irritate the tissues being treated if applied too often. This can cause inflammation in already sore muscles or irritation of the stomach, if taken internally as a tea. Arnica oil should not be applied to broken skin. If any irritation occurs with the use of this botanical, cease use immediately. 

St. John’s Wort-  Hypericum perforatum

Hypericum has become a very popular botanical for it’s use as a sedative and pain-reliever. Taken as a tea, it relieves tension in the muscles and is especially effective in treating nerve injuries. Applied topically, St. John's Wort works wonders in diminishing inflammation and moving “catabolic waste.” This means that all of the fluids and immune reaction waste are expelled more quickly. In infection, this may not be advisable. But in the case of physical swelling those fluids do better to move quickly away from the site. This prevents stagnation, slow healing, and those ugly bruises.

Oats- Avena sativa

Oats contain many of the nutrients necessary for the proper function of nerves. They contain proteins and moistening sugars, which help to heal physical nerve damage. Oats also have antidepressant, mood elevating effects. So as it relaxes the muscles and nerves, it stimulates positive emotions. Resting and feeling sorry for yourself can really make you blue... It is important to take quite a lot of oats! Take couple of teaspoonfuls of Avena sativa extract daily. I also encourage eating your herbs! Have oatmeal for as many meals as possible while healing.

White Willow- Salix alba

Willow should be familiar to many people who have had any experience with pain-relievers-- Aspirin is derived from the active chemicals in the Salix family. It is a master pain sedative and anti-inflammatory especially in treating headaches. I would recommend taking 1 mL of extract every 4 hours to see how well you respond. If you are not particularly sensitive to pain-relievers, I recommend using capsules (200mg every 4 hours).

Herbal Oil for Treating Trauma

2 part Arnica montana flowers infused in organic olive oil

2 part Hypericum perforatum flowers infused in organic olive oil

1 part Calendula officinalis flowers infused in organic coconut oil

Rub the oil into the affected area, taking care not to apply to any broken skin. Massage the area gently until the oil is no longer slick. Ice areas with swelling. Apply warmth to ease pain when swelling subsides. Reapply oil every 4-5 hours.

Sedative for Muscle Tension and Nerves

1 part Avena sativa glycerite extract

1 part Salix alba glycerite extract

While treating the bumps and bruising it is easy to forget underlying trauma that occurs with these types of injuries. Muscles will be tense even in areas unaffected directly by injury. Pain is a constant companion for a couple of days and this sends nerves firing, working overtime. I like to think of these as stress injuries. They will set your mind and emotions on edge if not managed. Take 2 mL by mouth every 4 hours. Also, eat oatmeal and rest.
 

Tips for Effective Rest and Healing

• Take it easy. Keep off of your feet. Allow your body time to rest.
• Sleep as much as possible-- you only heal while you’re sleeping!
• Make taking care of yourself a priority. Take joy in applying the oil and eating comfort food like soup and oatmeal. These things are healing you.
• A lot of people may not be familiar or comfortable with taking care of themselves. It is a lot of work to make sure your wounds are taken care of and that you are comfortable and taking your medicine! Moms and spouses are good for this kind of stuff. ;)

Best Wishes! Take care and take care of each other.

Veteran's Day Announcements

Hello all!

Just a quick update from your corner herbalist. I have recently joined the Barrio Karma Network, established by the prolific and inspired Herbalista, Luisa Valdez. 

Today seemed fitting since it is, after all, Veterans Day to show some love to one of my favorite colleagues and valley residents.

Luisa has recently launched her new webpage, a virtual storefront designed to showcase her skills in Holistic Healthcare. A fellow SWIHA grad, I have had the pleasure of Luisa's services while we were still in training. She proved to be an astute herbalist and an engaging yoga instructor. Her warmth, energy, and all-around fun-loving attitude make her a joy to be around always. I cannot recommend a more suited guide on your path to wellness than this Veteran, community leader, woman entrepreneur and dear friend.

In honor of Veteran's Day I would also like to announce that I will offer a 20% discount to all current and former members of the armed services. Redeemable always.

God Bless our Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Coast Guardians, and Airmen and women!

A Recipe for Energy Production

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to the dilemma of having less than enough energy for your needs. Every person has a different constitution and lifestyle and there is no magic pill, tea, or food that will accomplish this for any majority of people. What you can learn, with the help of an herbalist or a doctor (who is willing to take the time) is where the gaps need to be filled. This could mean including nutrients you've been lacking, removing energy-draining activities/substances from the equation, or supplementing with stimulating and nourishing herbs.

My personal favorite is supplementing your diet with green food. While this approach may seem passive, the effects are notable! While most supplement therapies using isolated nutrients or herbal extracts are very effective-- and have been extensively researched to show so-- they don't act as quickly as whole green food supplementation. Eating raw, green foods everyday will make a difference in the way you feel almost instantly. Herbal supplements typically take a month to produce noticeable effects and can often take up to three or six. Supplements, especially low-quality varieties, may never produce noticeable energy-boosting qualities. This is not to say that dietary supplements don't have their place and time. My point is that raw, fresh greens are the first and preferred method of ensuring proper basic nutrients for energy production.

I like to regard medicinal herbs and green leafy produce as phytonutrient super-packs. They include some of the most nutrient-dense foods readily and financially available to most people: spinach, kale, parsley, cilantro, dandelion greens, collards, mustard greens, swiss chard, etc.

When you ingest them as food, that is, fresh and raw you are enriching your diet (and your palate) with vital nutrients. These Vital Nutrients are minimum requirements for proper energy production. They include magnesium, phosphorous, CoQ10, potassium, iron, sulfur, copper-- all readily available in green foods. Every cell in the human body requires these minerals and elements in trace amounts. Microscopic, seemingly insignificant amounts of these molecules are necessary for the cells to produce that which gives energy at all to maintain life--ATP! If these needs aren't met, you're lacking. This is when you begin to drag, feel loss of energy, inability to concentrate.

Now, metabolism is a complex, dynamic and intangible process. It is so much more than the chemical reactions, physiological reactions, and raw materials that are involved. It operates subtly, and our bodies are constantly learning and unlearning how to cope and use what we give it. Our bodies are homeostatic, which means that it is constantly maintaining vital functions even as variables change-- such as what we eat, or how much sleep we get or if we're a new parent. We learn to make the required amount of ATP to function in the life we live, even to the extremes.

Many of us just aren't getting enough of the building blocks for those processes. So, we operate in a sub-prime state if we aren't maximizing nutrient intake and maximizing energy production. So, this basically means if we've taught ourselves to live off of cheeseburgers and french fries, 4 hours of sleep, and immutable amounts of stress you get through your day with your heart beating, lungs pumping and legs moving, but probably with fatigue, a bad attitude, or worse.

Green foods come with all kinds of other perks, too. They build blood, they contain enzymes, they regulate blood sugar, they can regulate digestion, they are pretty to look at. They're fun to get to know.

I encourage anyone to experiment and challenge yourself to a week or a month of eating one leafy green every day and really try to carry this on as a lifelong habit. Here is my current favorite recipe:

Simple Tabbouleh

2 or more bunches of flat leaf or curly parsley
1 tomato
1 cucumber, seeds removed
4 green onions
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
Handful of chopped nuts-- walnuts, pecans, or pine nuts are best

Juice from one lemon
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sea salt

Rinse parsley thoroughly and remove slimy or yellowed leaves. No need to trim the stems much, they have plenty of green goodness in them, too, they're just a little crunchier! Chop all produce finely and toss together in a bowl. Whisk oil and lemon juice separately and add to greens, slowly. Mix together and allow to chill for 30 minutes.

Tips from the Kitchen:

• Parsley is often pretty muddy, so please rinse it thoroughly!

• Add a handful of mint for a fresh boost of flavor.

• Substitute bulgur wheat for nuts if you're not gluten sensitive. And don't include the nuts if you have nut allergies, of course.

• This is a very basic recipe with a lot of room for experimenting. Add berries and substitute olive oil for honey! Or add extra garlic and jalapeno for a spicy garnish.

• Be sure your fridge isn't set to too low a temperature. Frozen tabbouleh is irredeemable! :(

Whole Foods (not the grocery store)

I recently pledged to this challenge at Eating Rules, called October: Unprocessed. The gist is to challenge yourself to a month without eating processed foods. Wilder goes on to explain what he means by processed, and it's a pretty inclusive definition: anything you can't make in your kitchen. Now, that would not be how we'd define it in this household, because we eat a lot of tofu. So, he encourages those taking the pledge to make their own exceptions, too. Although, the closer you stick to that basic rule, the more likely it is that you'll be sticking to what I encourage as a year-round rule -- eating a whole food diet.

At our house, I've begun to use the term "Nu Era Botanicals Approved" meal.  I apply this to other things (often to try to be funny), but it basically goes like so:

Poached eggs, served over spinach and tomatoes with turmeric, sea salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar?

That's a Nu Era Botanicals Approved breakfast!

It's approved because the bulk of the ingredients are whole foods, as opposed to parts of foods. To make an example of high-fructose corn syrup, (because let's face it, it's easy) all that it is is the isolated sugar found in corn. Corn, as a whole food would never taste that sweet or cause the major spike in blood-sugar levels that HFCS does.

When you realize this you can begin to regard whole foods as the moderators of our consumption. After all, isn't this the one rule everyone can agree on when it comes to the way we should eat-- everything in moderation?

Now, I wouldn't say everything. There are some things out there that should be avoided entirely and this is where the second word in my whole foods philosophy comes in. If you're eating it, it should be food. Trans fats, aspartame, MSG, any kind of food coloring, pesticides, and genetically-modified organisms are not food.

I love to share this list because it's a great jumping off point. You can build many a meal off of the Clean 15 list, especially if you're handy with a rice-cooker (or can cook rice on the stove like my talented boyfriend), and they are all whole foods!

It's also especially handy because it doesn't require you to make room in your budget for organic foods, though jumping into that game is absolutely Nu Era Botanicals approved!

Garlic Oxymel

Now that Autumn is upon us I thought I'd share a home remedy for those pesky colds, coughs, and flus. This recipe is for an oxymel syrup, which is basically just honey and vinegar. It's very tasty, easy to get the kiddos to take*, and very effective. The trick for max results with this remedy is timing. As soon as you feel like you are going to be sick, at that first sneeze, itchy throat, or achy evening take 2 tablespoons of oxymel every few hours. Mix one teaspoon into a shotglass of water and gargle it, too! You can continue to take it as and IF the cold persists. This honey syrup will keep for three months in the fridge and for a couple or a small family this should last the season.

I prepared and completed this recipe, from James Green’s The Herbal Medicine Maker’s Handbook in a total of about one hour and fifteen minutes.

Garlic Oxymel by the Late Dr. John Christopher

8 oz. apple cider vinegar
¼ oz. caraway seeds (Carum carvi), crushed
¼ oz. fennel seeds (Foeniculum vulgare), crushed
1 ½ oz. garlic (Allium sativum), fresh pressed
10 oz. honey

Measure apple cider vinegar into glass pot, add caraway and fennel seeds. Bring to a boil and let simmer for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, add garlic. Let sit until cool. Press and strain the liquid. Add honey. Place onto low heat and simmer to the consistency of syrup.

The beauty of a remedy like this one is that it is food-derived. A goal of Nu Era Botanicals' is to bridge the gap people feel between what they eat and what they use to heal. Garlic is a powerful antibacterial, and while many love the flavor in their spaghetti, the fresh juice is very pungent, spicy, and not so appealing. As such, it is a prime example of how food can be medicine, especially when paired with honey and vinegar. Both of which are expectorants--they help cough up all the mucous that causes congestion and runniness.

I encourage you to experiment with oxymels! A basic oxymel is simply honey and vinegar in a 5:1 ratio, though you can adjust to taste. Often water is added, too. If you're like many, you already have honey and vinegar, so make it as you need it. Just these two ingredients are enough to produce results, and they happen to be a great carrier for herbs like garlic and ginger because of their pleasant taste.

I am proud to announce that this remedy will be included in the Nu Era Cold/Flu Kit which will be available soon for purchase. Please check back soon under the Apothecary link for details!

*Remember, children under 1 year of age do not apply, as they can't digest bee enzymes. Babies are sweet enough without the honey!

Summer Produce

Learn What's in Season from Edible Phoenix's website. It is an excellent resource for valley residents and visitors!

I taped this to my fridge to spark ideas for meals, treats, and as shopping inspiration.

Some staples to take from this list in particular include:

Aromatic herbs like basil, cilantro, and dill are very potent green foods, boasting high antioxidant levels. These antioxidants protect each cell from damage, including our skin cells, which are so susceptible to harm this time of year.

Carrots have the highest levels of carotenoids. These phytochemicals protect the skin from UV damage, acting like an internal sunscreen.

Any of the fleshy, juicy melons that are beginning to be available can be a delicious way to stay hydrated during these dry, windy weeks of summer.

Enjoy your summer shopping and leave your favorite summer foods or recipes in the comments!

Marta, Herbalist