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Angie

Medicine Making Series

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Do you want to learn how to create your own herbal medicines?

In this series of totally free online classes, you will receive a basic understanding of ten different preparations. We will work with plants that are gentle and supportive and create potent medicines with them.

What we will not do is go in too deeply about the actions of different plants. I will have a few profiles under each lesson, but I will provide links to learn more about specifics of plants of your choosing.

What we will cover:

  • Teas, tisanes, and nourishing herbal infusions,
  • Infused honeys and syrups,
  • Tinctures, vinegars, oxymels, and elixirs,
  • Infused oils and salves.

Each week, I will be releasing a new lesson right here on the website. No registration is required, but if you want to make sure you are notified when the next lesson comes out, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter!

 

 

Now, this is not by any means a comprehensive program~simply a very beginner’s guide to making simple at home remedies. If you are looking to go deeper in your education, I have a few schools to recommend. These are all schools that I have taken classes with.

I’m really excited to share this with you. I love passing along knowledge and working alongside people~and this way it will feel like we are kind of hanging out together, right? Remember, make sure you subscribe to the newsletter to stay up to date on when each class is released! See you next week (January 27th)!

GAPS Week 1 Meal Plan

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**this post may contain affiliate links.

If you read my previous post about recovering from being very sick, you know that I am preparing to work towards healing my gut utilizing the GAPS diet protocol. I’m not going to go into too much of the details surrounding this diet or the book. but if you join my Facebook group, I do discuss it there.

Basic Meal Plan

I like to keep things real simple. Since I’m starting with the Introductory Diet at Stage 1, I’m keeping SUPER simple.

Day 1

  • Meal 1: Basic chicken broth with shredded chicken. Adding 1-2 tsp sauerkraut liquid.
  • Meal 2: Basic chicken broth with shredded chicken, broccoli, onion and garlic. Adding 1-2 tsp sauerkraut liquid.
  • To drink (this is where I deviate a bit-I will be adding more herbal teas than just ginger): nettles, oat straw and hibiscus infusion, chicory root coffee sub, tulsi chai. All without dairy or sweetener added.
  • Supplements & Medication: 60 mg NP Thyroid 2 X day, 2 droppers of Ashwagandha tincture 3 X a day, 3 liver capsules 2 X a day, liquid methylated B12 1 X a day.
  • If I’m still hungry, I’ll add another bowl of chicken broth with shredded chicken, but don’t usually eat until after noon so two meals is typical).

Day 2

  • Meal 1: Basic beef broth with shredded beef. Adding 1-2 tsp sauerkraut liquid.
  • Meal 2: Basic beef broth with shredded beef, zucchini sticks, onion and garlic. Adding 1-2 tsp sauerkraut liquid.
  • Beverages and supplements remain the same.

Day 3

  • Meal 1: Basic beef broth with shredded beef. Adding 1-2 tsp sauerkraut liquid.
  • Meal 2: Basic beef broth with shredded beef, carrots, leeks, onion and garlic. Adding 1-2 tsp sauerkraut liquid.
  • Beverages and supplements remain the same.

Day 4

I think I’m going to try to graduate to stage 2 here. I can add egg yolk and possibly soft boiled eggs, stews, casseroles (with same non fibrous veggies), yogurt, fermented fish. I can also add homemade ghee at this point, so that will be nice.

  • Meal 1: Basic beef broth with shredded beef, zucchini sticks, 1 soft boiled duck egg. Adding 1-2 tsp sauerkraut liquid. 1/4 cup-1/4 cup yogurt.
  • Meal 2: Simple beef stew with broccoli, onions, garlic, carrots, and turnip.
  • Beverages and supplements remain the same.

Day 5

  • Meal 1: Basic chicken broth with shredded chicken, riced cauliflower, onion, lemon juice, 1 raw egg whisked in. Adding 1-2 tsp sauerkraut liquid. side of 1/4 cup-1/4 cup yogurt.
  • Meal 2: Pickled herring with sour cream sauce.
  • Beverages and supplements remain the same.

If I notice any discomfort or digestive issues in Day 4 and 5, I will go back to stage 1. I’m excited about stage 3-I can add avocados, nut butter, squash, and egg ‘pancakes’, scrambled eggs, and sauerkraut. I’ll be getting into stages 3 and 4 next week 🙂

Free Herbalism

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Return to the People

When I have a project in my head and in my heart, I have to get it out. Those of you that have been following my business for the past few years, know that I sometimes change directions in my goals for what I am wanting to do. Some may see it as flighty, but I think that as we grow and change, our focus changes and we adapt. 

I’ve been working hard to build these underlying foundational changes for my business (Wild Earth Herbals) so that as I implement the overarching ones, there isn’t going to be a lot of adjustment. 

My thoughts~ plant medicine (herbalism) is People’s medicine (this is not an original idea, for sure! Many people follow this philosophy). Everyone and their mama should be able to craft their own medicines to take care of their families. We are, after all, responsible for our own health. When we take that back, it is a great feeling. Everyone should have the tools to be able to prevent illness and to live with vitality. BUT. Not everyone has the resources. Yes, you can look up things on the internet and at the library for free. But. You have to have the time to sort through what is real and what is garbage. 

Workshops, classes, retreats, apprenticeships, etc on herbal medicine can range from lower cost ($20-50) to the thousands. And even if someone could afford to do that, if you are a mother or caretaker or have other obligations, you just can’t do it, usually. 

I want to create a system that allows me to give my medicine freely to those who need and want it. All of it. Free workshops, free classes, free retreats, and free herbal medicines. 

But, to do that I still have to have an income because I too have financial obligations. This is where Patreon comes in. 
With Patreon, wonderful folks called Patrons can support my vision for various personal reasons: they love my mission and goals and want to help, they see they can get awesome free stuff, or whatever other reason they have to be all around amazing people. 
There are different support levels ranging from $1-$50 per month. Each level provides various bonuses: discount codes, free classes, free downloadable, free monthly consultations, and more as I add more content. And these will change as my goals are reached. Once I’m able to give free classes, I’ll adapt my tiers of support. 
You can check out my Patreon page to see what the exact goals and support benefits are. Or ask any questions you have below! I’m super excited about this direction and hope that I’m able to reach my goals with your help.

Golden Sauerkraut: A Sweet & Tangy Twist

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**this post contains affiliate links.

If you have ever interacted with me about nutrition, gut health, or yummy food in general, then you have probably heard me go on and on about fermented foods. I’ve been known to strong arm people in workshops who swear they don’t like sauerkraut to ‘just try mine and see.” And yeah, some will hold fast with the dislike (it’s not for everyone) but I did convert quite a few people-homemade sauerkraut is miles from the stuff at the store unless what you are buying is truly fermented.

Why do we want to eat fermented foods?

Our gut is full of bacteria-beneficial microorganisms that are vital to proper digesting, immune health, and many other body functions. Unfortunately, modern life does not support proper homeostasis of our microbiome. Between antibacterial everything, excessive sugars, depletion of healthy bacteria in our soil, and overuse of antibiotics-we have to work extra hard (compared to our ancestors) to ensure proper proliferation.

Preventatively, we can stop using antibacterial products, cut back sugars, eat foods that are prebiotics (food for probiotics), take commercial probiotics (not recommended by me in most cases) and eat fermented foods. Fermented foods are naturally full of probiotics-good bacteria that we need for optimal health. Simply eating 1/4 cup or so of some sort of ferment daily is usually sufficient (unless you are in deep healing-we will talk about that in a later post).

Fermentation is the act of transforming food using bacteria. Now, there are different types of bacterium. We only want the good stuff, right? None of this toxic nonsense. And that is where people get scared of home ferments. They just know they are going to inoculate their food with harmful bacteria accidentally. As long as you follow the instructions properly (and they aren’t hard) you will be fine.

The most basic ferment is sauerkraut. You only need 2 ingredients: cabbage and salt. The salt inhibits the growth of putrefying bacteria and allows the beneficial bacteria to take over. *Fun fact~not only does fermenting cabbage create probiotics, it increases the amount of bioavailable vitamin C!

Because I like variety in my ferments, I like to experiment with different flavors. With sauerkraut, there are so many possibilities. I’ll link some recipe books at the end if you are interested in experimenting beyond the Golden Kraut I made here. Recipe below!

Simple ingredient list: cabbage, ginger root, pinapple, and turmeric! (salt not pictured)

Ingredients & Supplies

  • One head of cabbage: finely chopped
  • One pineapple: peeled, cored, and diced
  • 1 TBSP fresh ginger: grated
  • 1 TBSP fresh turmeric: grated (or 1 tsp powdered)
  • 4 TBSP salt: NOT iodized. Sea salt, pink salt, Celtic salt are all acceptable.
  • Large bowl
  • 2 wide mouth quart canning jars
  • Fermenting caps (optional)

First and foremost, make sure all of your equipment and supplies are sterilized. This prevents mold.

Place cabbage in a large bowl and cover with the salt. Mix. You then can either cover loosely with tea towel and let sit overnight, or do what I do and beat it. I use a meat pounder and just go to town. You’ll want the cabbage to start getting pretty watery. The salt and the beating will release the water content from the cabbage. I’ve never had to add extra water to my sauerkraut (you will for other types of ferments).

Once it is sufficiently watery, add the other ingredients and mix well. Pack your mixture into your sterilized quart jars. If needed, use a glass fermenting weight . The key is to keep the plant material below the liquid line. I find that I don’t really need to use weights with sauerkraut, though-other ferments-yes. And then either cap with the jar lid or the fermenting caps.

If using the regular lids, you will need to ‘burp’ your ferment daily to allow air to escape. If you are using the fermenting caps, the air will release on its own! Ideally, you will want to leave this sitting on the counter for around 4-6 weeks. I have zero self control and usually break in around 1 week. It will keep fermenting the longer you leave it out. Once it reaches your desired level of fermentation, refrigerate (swap out the fermenting caps at this point). The cold slows the process.

If you are new to eating fermented foods, start light. Just a few teaspoons. You need to build up to a full serving if your gut isn’t used to the extra bacteria. Note: Do NOT heat up your ferments. Heat kills the probiotics. If you are turned off from eating it cold, pull your serving out of the fridge a few hours before eating to bring it to room temperature. You can also lay hot food on it to gently warm it. Remember, eat a bit every day. Eventually it will become second nature! And experiment with different flavor profiles~have fun with it!

Book Recommendations:

Books for the Beginner Herbalist

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**This post contains affliliate links. While it doesn’t cost you anything, I will receive a small percentage for each sale.

When you are just beginning the journey of working with plants and wanting to create your own medicine, it can be so overwhelming. Yes, there is tons of free information on the internet. Blogs, websites, all the things. But if you’re like me, you like to have something tangible. There is something about holding a book, being about to mark up the pages, and dog earring your favorite passages. That’s why I’m compiling a list of my favorite books to start off with. This is not an exhaustive list of even my personal stash of books and nowhere near a complete library of all the herbals you should have. But, it’s a good start.

Body Wisdom

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I recently had a pretty intense illness. Like, stuck in bed or on the couch, can’t move, hurts to exist level of sickness. I usually get over being sick in a day or 2. Three tops. But this was dragging on. And on. And on. I had the most intense sinus infection known to man (not really, but it was bad). I was going through a roll of toilet paper a day. I swigged gallons of echinacea, usnea, and goldenrod tinctures. I was pounding vitamin C until I had to live on the toilet. My sinuses were so impacted and inflamed that I couldn’t do saline rinses. I tried. I did ALL. THE. THINGS. I suffered through Thanksgiving not being able to taste anything. The only thing I could taste was coffee and it was awful. 

And then, I finally started to feel better. I got a sinus drainage massage from my friend Sherri. She gave me a cup to help move things along (have you looked into cupping?). I bought a guasha to move my lymph. I could kind of  breathe again. I mean, it was so bad, that I had sores on my nostrils and couldn’t sleep. I seriously looked like a drug addict. 

And then. I woke up and felt 1000X worse. High fever. Chills. Now, I know not to try to lower fevers because it is an immune response. It means your body is working towards killing the infection. So I stayed hydrated and took baths, and slept. Unfortunately, when you are really sick, and don’t have a partner to care for you, it’s all you can do to even get some water, much less steep and strain tea. So, likely I didn’t do everything I needed. But it hurt to exist. 

And then. I woke up and felt 1000X worse. Yes. Worse than the day before. Worse than the week before. Worse than 3 weeks before. All the lymph glands in the back of my neck down into my clavicle were hot, inflamed, and PAINFUL. I couldn’t move my neck. I started to get scared. I messaged my friend that recently recovered from meningitis to ask what her symptoms were. Thankfully I didn’t have them aside from the headache (from sinus pressure and caffeine withdrawal) and stiff neck-but mine was stiff from pain-not meningitis. 

I finally gave up. Now, had this all happened at the beginning of my illness, instead of 3+ weeks in, I could have likely worked a little more to clear it on my own. But at this point I was done. I wasn’t able to work, care for my family or myself, or do anything that even remotely resembled being a human. I dragged myself to a clinic. Ready to accept help from allopathic medicine.  So I was diagnosed with a severe sinus infection, two ear infections, and lymphadenitis (infected lymph nodes). I was definitely feeling ashamed of the fact that I gratefully accepted my prescriptions of not only antibiotics, but also prednisone (steroids). I needed to kick start my healing to get back to the land of the living. 

Now, in retrospect, I realize that I had been receiving signals from my body. Even though I feel like I mostly maintain a fairly healthy lifestyle, I was doing the things that I shouldn’t have: not resting when called, relying on caffeine to carry my through, consuming alcohol, and not following my normal self care practices because “I’m just entirely too busy.” HA! When we don’t LISTEN to the tiny voices, the loud voices are undeniable. Due to my pushing off the voice that told me to slow down, to rest, to practice self-care (yeah yeah, it’s a cliched buzzword anymore-but it IS RELEVANT) my body pushed back and forced me to rest. I created the perfect host for this virus and subsequent bacterial infection to take root. My immune system was depleted. My lymphatic function was zero. And everything stopped.

So, how do you listen to your body? What are these voices?

It starts with setting aside time in the morning. When you wake up, before you get out of bed-do a body scan instead of just hopping up right away. How are you feeling? Muscle tension? Weird tickle in your throat? Sometimes we have things going on that are very subtle, and if we are rushing throughout the day, we can easily ignore them. But if we take the time to proactively assess and figure out what is going on, this is a good place to head off an illness. Another trick is to notice when you are rushing around, stressed and frazzled. Taking the time to stop for just a minute and breathe. While you’re sitting in traffic, when you’re sitting at your desk, when you are once again standing over your sink. Just stop. Just for a moment. And breathe. Any tightness? This is a good time to think about your hydration level. You probably do need some water. Do some light stretches. Before bed-how are you going to bed? Do you fall asleep exhausted? Do you watch tv or stare at your phone? Develop a good bed time routine that is calming, relaxing, and invites sleep.

Let me tell you. Even though I’m happy to report I felt exponentially better within a day, it’s not without consequence. And the moral of this story is NOT to take antibiotics when you are sick. I feel like I was responsible in my usage of western medicine. I consider it a last resort and that’s exactly what I did. Like I said, usually I can kick an infection in a few days. But this set in HARD. 

So, side effects that I dealt/am dealing with: the prednisone made me crazy. I rage cleaned. I ate horribly. I was an asshole. I don’t understand how people take it long term. I would lose my mind and gain 100s of pounds. The antibiotics killed my gut. I have had/still have loose stools. Sometimes just mild, other times full blown diarrhea. I had a yeast infection. Lots of bloating. And these are only the noticeable side effects.

It can take years to recover your gut microbiome after a round of antibiotics unless you are proactive about it. You may have seen me post on Facebook about starting the GAPS diet protocol. This is mainly why. I’m also doing it to help with absorption in general as I have Hashimoto’s which also affects digestion and gut health. 

I made the mistake of attempting to start this protocol before the holidays. BIG mistake. So, I am now ready to restart fully. If you would like to follow along, I’ll be sharing my meal plan and experiences in my Facebook group. You can join here.
Read all about GAPS here. 

GAPS isn’t for everyone. It’s a pretty restrictive diet. But, I feel like for me, it is the fastest way to restore my gut health and set me on the correct path to focus on rectifying the damage and deal with my autoimmune issues. 

The moral of the story, take care of yourself while you are healthy. Listen to your body before it is forced to scream. Have a system in place. You don’t want to be sick and then realize you don’t have herbal teas at home. Keep a nice stash of holistic remedies. Stay hydrated. Move daily. Eat nourishing foods and ferments. Get outside more. REST. Practice self care. Reach out to create a support system.

I am always available to help you develop a personalized prevenative plan. You can schedule a free consultation here.

 

Hibiscus & Hawthorn Mocktail

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The holiday seasons (and really any socializing in general) invokes thoughts of people gathering and laughing and drinking tasty alcoholic beverages. We are an alcohol centric society, and I am the first to admit that I have enjoy drinking a tasty beverage since I was a teen (I’m German, it was acceptable and sometimes encouraged. I won’t go into my thoughts about that at this point).

Off and on throughout my adult life I have toyed with the idea of total sobriety and sometimes went years without drinking. Sometimes weeks. Sometimes days. Sometimes, during times of high stress I drank every day.

I never really considered myself an alcoholic, because while I did drink in excess occasionally and made questionable choices sometimes, I never felt I NEEDED to drink or had withdrawals from it.

BUT, I did and do recognize that I have an unhealthy relationship with it because when I feel stressed, it is the first thing that I think of. When I think of social scenarios, alcohol is typically a focal point. When I see others drinking, I want to.

I made the decision a while back that I would break my relationship with alcohol entirely (aside from the use of medicinal tinctures and elixirs). I haven’t fully committed yet, but my intake has gone from 1-2 times a week to maybe once a month and never outside of my home and never more than 1-2 drinks maximum.

All this to say, this holiday I have been toying with different recipes of herbal infused fun drinks to be able to enjoy either at home after dinner, serve at a party for those who want to have a fun pretty drink but don’t want the alcohol, or just for Tuesday!

I made this Hibiscus & Hawthorn cocktail for my Herbal Holiday Pop-Up sale last month. It was so fun to create and share with my customers!

I chose hibiscus and hawthorn for this drink because of their heart protective properties. They both help lower blood pressure (so if you have an issue with low blood pressure, you should avoid) and hawthorn has an energetic heart healing aspect, as well. Holidays can bring up a lot of emotional stuff, so working with herbs that help you navigate those feelings can be helpful.

Okay. So, enough rambling, this is what you are really here for, right?

Hibiscus and Hawthorn Mocktail

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of dried hibiscus

2 tablespoons of dried hawthorn berries (or 1/2 ounce of hawthorn tincture)

2 cups of filtered water.

2 cup of pomegranate or black cherry juice

2 cup of sparkling water

several limes

Hibiscus sugar (recipe below, as well)

Day before. Make hibiscus sugar.

Grind 1 tablespoon of hibiscus until fine powder. Mix well with a 4 ounces of cane sugar. Store in an airtight container overnight.

Day of. Create your hibiscus and hawthorn mocktail.

Boil the water. Steep the dried herbs to make a strong tea. Juice 1-2 limes. Strain the tea after 15 minutes. Combine tea, juice, lime juice, and sparkling water. Empty hibiscus sugar onto a flat plate. Cut several wedges of lime. Rim your glass with a wedge of lime to get the entire rim wet. Then place your glass upside-down on the plate of sugar to gently coat the rim with the hibiscus sugar.

Add ice to your glass. Fill with your drink and garnish with the wedge of lime. Cheers!

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Winter Wellness Workshop

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It’s the midst of Winter and I have already seen and experienced so much sickness. I want everyone to make sure that they are prepared for the rest of the season, not only with what they need to keep themselves well, but also to have the basic skills and knowledge to help their families!

You are responsible for your family’s health.

This workshop will be on January 26, 2020 (Sunday) at 2pm at The Healing Arts Exchange in Florence, SC. The cost is $30 per person and you will learn how to make:
~elderberry syrup
~fire cider
~a honey based cough syrup.
You will also go home with a small jar of each remedy! This is a $50+ value in addition to the invaluable information you will receive!
In order to ensure that I provide enough supplies, you must RSVP by pre-paying for your spot. This is a limited class, so make sure you sign up early!

Buy now

 

 

If you are NOT local and wish to view the class via a Facebook Live link, you may do so by clicking the link BELOW. It is only $10 and you will have access to a private FB group to view the class. You will also be able to receive a handout of the class notes.

 

Buy now

Once you pay for your course, you may request to join this Facebook group to live stream the workshop.

Create Your Own Lymph Supporting Tea Blend

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Support of your lymphatic system is an important component to overall holistic health. It is so much easier to keep it working smoothly than to try to work on it while you are sick (when we notice it, usually from swollen lymph nodes in our necks).

While there are quite a few ways to keep your lymph flowing, drinking a daily support tea is by far the tastiest way!

What exactly is your lymphatic system?

It is one of the most important systems in your body. Intrinsically connected to your circulatory and immune system, it is the pathway for removing waste and toxins from your body.
It is comprised of fluid (lymph-containing white blood cells), glands/nodes, ducts, tissue, organs, and vessels.
It is so connected to your circulatory system, that simply being active and stimulating your circulation will keep your lymph flowing freely.

On to the tea!

This nourishing blend of herbs provides gentle support of the lymphatic system.  Move stagnant lymph and strengthens immune response.
It contains: stinging nettle, dandelion leaf, schisandra berry, red clover blossom, roasted chicory root, and lemon peel.

Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica)-as an astringent alternative (tightens lax tissue and returns homeostasis-cleanses blood) it helps prevent the stagnation of the lymph. It is also full of nutritive properties – calcium and magnesium are the main ones.

Dandelion leaf (Taraxicum officianale)-dandelion leaf is wonderful to work with in the spring when we are coming out of our winter sluggishness. Dandelion is amazing for moving slow and sluggish lymph due to its ability to remove metabolic waste from our cells!

Schisandra berry (Schisandra chinensis)-lovingly called the five flavored berry in Chinese medicine, Schisandra can taste sweet, sour, bitter, salty, and pungent. It’s the pungent and bitter tastes that led me to add it to my blend. No other reasons based in reality. Sometimes I just let my intuition guide me. And then I found this abstract to a study talking about how it has been found to modulate the lymphatic system of hepatitis B patients in China.

Red Clover Blossoms (Trifolium pratense)– Red clover is very astringent and a great support herb in moving lymph and cleansing the blood. It is a phytoestrogen, so if you are having issues with hormonal balancing, you may want to leave this one out.

Chicory Root (Cichorium intybus)-I added chicory root to give a little depth in flavor as well as its prebiotic (feeds probiotics) constituents and liver support.

Lemon Peel (Citrus limon)-The sour and bitter taste of the lemon peel lends it to having a nice astringent property. That along with its antioxidants, make it a great way to round out this tea blend.

If you aren’t interested in making this yourself, you can purchase a tin of Lymph Love from my shop!

So, you can make this tea in several different ways. One is to be totally free and use your intuition and add as much of each herb as you wish (and you don’t have to add all of them by any means! Pick 3 if you want!)
I like to follow the Mountain Rose Herbs synergy triangle for tea blending.

1. Base-3 parts of your main action herbs.
2. Support-2 parts of supporting herbs.
3. Catalyst-1 part of the stimulate or highly flavored accent.

So we are going to start with:
3 TBSP each nettles and dandelion
1 TBSP each of Schisandra berry, red clover, and chicory root and
1.5 TSP of lemon peel.

Blend well in a bowl and store in a glass jar. Make sure you label with name of your tea, ingredients, and date you blended it. Store in a dark cool place.

To make a cup of tea, steep 1 TBSP in 6-8 ounces of boiled water. I like to steep for about 15 minutes. You can go shorter or longer as your taste requires. Strain and sweeten as desired-but I find the lemon and schisandra add a sourness that is so amazing on its own. I actually love to make a few quarts at a time and chill it to drink as an iced tea! I drink 1-3 cups a day depending how much support of my lymphatic system is needed.

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