Late Summer's Harvest

We've had an incredibly busy spring and summer here at Hawk Circle, but things are beginning to quiet down a bit just in time for a late summer's harvesting and drying of plants for my winter medicine cabinet.  Standing tall at one end of my garden is a mullein plant that I will be cutting down to dry.  The soft, velvety leaves are wonderful for aiding the lungs.  I dry them by either hanging the whole plant upside down or spreading the leaves out on a drying rack.  If there are any mullein flowers on the stalk, I collect them and dry them as well.  Infused in olive oil, the mullein flowers are wonderful for healing ear aches.  Once the leaves are fully dry, I crush them and place them in a glass jar to store.  As with all plants you are drying for storage, make sure they are completely dry or mold will grow quickly.  I use the dried leaves throughout the year as a tea for supporting the lungs during times of chest colds or lung infections.  A good way to make it is to place a small handful of dried leaves in a mason jar, fill with boiling water and let sit for a few minutes, then strain and add a bit of honey.

Just beginning to bloom now is goldenrod and we have plenty of it.  The flower head is wonderful for dyeing wool and is one of the few plants that will transfer and retain its brilliant, gold color.  However, I also collect the flower heads and dry them for my winter medicine cabinet.  Made into a tea, it's a wonderful remedy for treating bladder and urinary tract infections.  I also use uva ursi, or bearberry for treating such infections, but I've heard that goldenrod is a bit more gentle on your system.

Another remedy I make is elderberry cold syrup.  Our elderberries are ripe and ready to harvest, about two weeks earlier this year than usual.  Elderberries are one of the fruits highest in vitamin C and makes a great remedy for boosting your immune system.  I make a sweet syrup that we use year round for sweetening pancakes and waffles, yogurt and oatmeal.  I have also made a cough syrup by boiling the elderberry juice down to about half of what it originally measured.  Adding some yarrow, cinnamon and nutmeg and honey, makes an effective cold remedy.  However, this year, because both my husband and I have been eliminating sugar from our diets, I plan on making an elderberry tincture.  Whenever you work with elderberries, it's always best to freeze them first, making it much easier to remove the berries from the branches and stems.  Filling a mason jar with the berries and adding a good quality vodka is all you need to do to make a tincture.  Place a lid on your jar and let it sit for 6 weeks.  When it's ready to strain, be sure, as with all tinctures, that you store it in a dark colored, glass bottle so the sun light doesn't weaken your tincture.

My favorite plant that covers my drying racks through out the summer is calendula.  Although it's an annual, it is a prolific self-seeder and will come back year after year even when the soil has been disturbed multiple times.  I collect the flowers when they just open and spread them out on my drying rack or sometimes on a cookie sheet.  Calendula is known for healing all sorts of skin ailments as well as cuts.  Along with calendula flowers, I also dry comfrey and plantain and use all three plants when making salves.  You can also take the dried calendula flowers and infuse it in your favorite massage oil for a wonderful skin remedy during the cold and dry winter months.

As fall approaches, I'll be making more medicines for my winter medicine cabinet and definitely keep you posted!  Have a wonderful last few weeks of summer!

Coltsfoot Spring Cough Remedy

Coltsfoot, Latin name tussilago farfara is the first flower to blossom in the spring and is easily visible because of its bright yellow color that stands out amongst the still sleeping early spring landscape. One could easily assume this yellow flower is a dandelion, but if you look closely, there are significant differences. The flower itself is a bit smaller but most unique is its stem. Dandelion stems are smooth and hollow where as the stem of coltsfoot is scaly and this is the best way to identify coltsfoot.

Coltsfoot is well known for helping to heal coughs. Picking the fresh flowers along with the stems, placing them in a jar then filling with honey makes a great remedy. After covering the jar filled with flowers and honey, place the jar in a cool area and let sit for about 6 weeks. When ready, strain the honey so it is free of all plant material and then store in a covered glass jar, ready for use when needed.

Have a healthy spring!

Gluten Free Menu Offered to Hawk Circle Campers this Summer!

Over the years, I have noticed more and more kids coming to our summer camp requiring a gluten free diet. Last year, when we had six people here who were in need of gluten free meals, I realized that this phenomenon was only going to continue to grow. It not only gave me the realization that we needed to do more to accommodate this growing need, but it also inspired me to search for answers as to why having an allergy or a sensitivity to wheat was on such the rise.

I found it odd that wheat being one of our oldest grains, certainly not the oldest, but definitely one of the oldest grains was giving people so many problems. After doing some research, the information that I found to make the most sense was research done by Dr. William Davis, author of Wheat Belly.

In Dr. Davis' book, he explains that with the efforts in the mid 1900's to solve the problem of world hunger, scientists developed thousands of new strains of wheat through plant hybridization. While the new strains offered high yields, particularly the semi-dwarf wheat plant that now comprise more than 99% of all the wheat grown worldwide, they are altered so much from their original ancestors, that it's practically a different plant all together.

One of the most dramatic changes is with the gluten proteins. As Dr. Davis says, "when compared to century-old strains of wheat, modern strains of Triticum aestivum express a higher quantity of genes for gluten proteins that are associated with celiac disease". Along with an increase in gluten proteins, the hybrid wheat plants are completely reliant on human assistance for their survival and can not survive in the wild as did their ancestors.

I am just giving you a very small sampling of the information that is in Dr. William Davis' book, Wheat Belly. And this book's focus is not on celiac disease or gluten sensitivities, but instead offers a variety of information that links many ailments from arthritis to diabetes to the consumption of our modern day wheat. It gave me a better understanding why sensitivities to gluten are on the rise. So Hawk Circle's contribution to this dilemma is to offer a gluten free menu this summer in hopes that it will support the families who have children with wheat allergies and sensitivities.

The Healing Magic of Essential Oils

I've been using essential oils in supporting my family's wellness for the past few years. I started using them in the creams, oils and herbal salves that I make mainly for their beautiful scents and purity. However, after traveling to Egypt and seeing hieroglyphs containing vessels of what appeared to be healing oils, my interest was peaked. I began doing a much more in depth study of the use of essential oils through out the ages and I have found working with them to be nothing short of magical!

I have many favorite oils that I have used to support my family's immune system as well as emotional stress. But my favorite oil for its many uses and beautiful aroma is lavender. It's a great stress reducer, as the molecules of pure essential oils are so small that they can penetrate the "blood brain barrier" having wonderful healing effects that work directly with our brain, bringing peace to our emotional center. Aside from relieving stress, I have found lavender to be a must have in your natural medicine cabinet for a variety of other uses. It is one of the few oils that can be put directly onto open wounds.

This summer, Ric had a very sharp chisel slip, leaving a significant gash across his stomach that in hindsight should have had stitches. I immediately reached for my lavender oil and put it right on the open wound and then covered it with bandages. I continued this for a couple days until Ric had had enough of smelling like a flower. The wound had very little to no redness around it and was not sensitive to the touch; it healed beautifully!

Lavender is also very good for burns. I've applied it directly to burns to help heal and relieve the sensitivity. It's also great mixed with a bit of water and poured into a spray bottle for relieving sunburns.

I'm adding lavender to our Hawk Circle infirmary this summer to help us take care of any minor cuts and abrasions as well as sunburned campers.

Dandelion Coffee

I'm harvesting all sorts of things this time of year. Not only is my garden abundant with beets, collards, kale and beans, but my yard is abundant with a variety of plants that I like to harvest as well. One of my favorite is dandelion. First of all, you can find it just about anywhere and second of all, there are so many ways to work with this plant. In the spring making dandelion wine and dandelion flower fritters are two of my favorites. But this time of year, as the energy of the plants is beginning to move back into the roots, I begin collecting and continue well into the fall.

Dandelion coffee has a great flavor and is good for you too. (and if you make it yourself, it sure is a lot cheaper than starbucks!) It also stimulates your digestion without stimulating your nerves.

Towards the end of the summer and well into the fall is a good time for digging up dandelion roots. You can dig them up during the spring or summer as well, but in the fall, the roots are a bit more bitter which make them perfect for coffee. After digging the roots up, cut off the greens and wash the roots well. If my wood stove is running, I place the roots on a cookie sheet and roast them right on top of the stove. Otherwise, you can place them in an oven. Roast them slowly and as soon as they're dark, remove from heat. I chop the roasted roots and add them to a coffee bean grinder til they resemble a coarse powder.

You can brew the roasted roots in a coffee maker or place directly in a pot. The grounds can be fine enough to go through a strainer, so I just let them settle to the bottom of the pot before I pour into a cup. Adding a bit of cocoa powder to the dandelion coffee makes a great fall drink!

Vinegars!

Summer is a great time to be making special vinegars that you can use for the rest of the year for salad dressings or sprinkled on your cooked greens for a wonderful nutritional boost. Some people say that vinegar, rich in enzymes and potassium, help to build a healthy immune system and aids in digestion by keeping a healthy PH balance. Vinegar is also good at extracting both the nutritional and medicinal components from plants. So, for an added benefit, collect your favorite herbs this summer, both for flavor and medicinal benefits, and place in a large jar. Then fill the jar with apple cider vinegar, cover and let sit for 6 weeks before straining the plant material. Don't forget that vinegar can rust a metal lid, so if you can, use a plastic lid and glass jar. I'm going to be collecting burdock, yellow dock and dandelion roots to add to my vinegar for a healthy tonic I can use through out the year. Enjoy your summer!

Healing ear infections, naturally

There are many children that are plagued with painful ear infections, especially during the winter months as we are more susceptible to colds and flu. Although using natural remedies shouldn't always replace a visit to your pediatrician in acute cases, they can provide immediate healing and comfort. And although antibiotics may be necessary in some cases, even medical doctors are reluctant to hand out antibiotics every time there is an infection because of the damaging effects they can have on our immune systems making us susceptible to even more disease.

However, there are other ways to deal with ear infections that are safe, effective and soothing. The remedy I most often have used both when my children were young as well as myself when my ears begin to feel discomfort is a Garlic Mullein Flower Remedy. I collect mullein flowers through out the later months of summer and into the fall to dry and store for use during the winter. As you may not likely have mullein flowers on hand, especially during the cold and flu season, you can use just garlic. I pour about a 1/4 cup of olive oil into a pan, and very slowly heat with a clove of garlic and about a tsp. of dried mullein flowers. I don't chop the garlic so as not to worry about any small garlic pieces getting into the ear. Sometimes I will make a larger batch and store in the refrigerator to use as needed. After heating enough to release the smell of garlic into the oil, I let it cool to about body temperature. I have applied it in one of two ways. I will often apply it using a cotton ball in which I then place in the ear and let sit, perhaps pressing a hot water bottle to the ear as well. I will also take a dropper full of oil and carefully apply several drops around the ear canal, allowing it to slowly seep into the ear.

Doses of acidophilus given several times a day is also helpful in healing ear infections. It is more effective than eating yogurt since it's a good idea to eliminate dairy products and sugary foods during ear infections.

Another remedy that is effective for healing hear infections is making an onion pack. Saute fresh onion in olive oil until translucent. While still hot, place cooked onions on a piece of cotton cloth or flannel and fold and then hold to the ear as a hot pack.

According to Rosemary Gladstar, well known herbalist, in traditional chinese medicine, it is believed that the health of our kidneys is directly related to the health of our ears. She recommends that providing your child with warm packs for his/her lower back, providing plenty of fluids and cranberry juice to support the kidneys will benefit the condition of the ears greatly.

Have a warm and healthy winter!