Plantain. Oh how I love thee!

Wow. It's hard to believe that it's been almost 10 months since my last post!
So much has happened since then...
My little apothecary has grown and so has my knowledge.
How 'bout I share in pictures what I've been up to.

Pictured here are my Tinctures of Honeysuckle, Cleavers Herb, Dandelion and Lemon Balm, as well as my infused oils of Dandelion Blooms & Plantain.

The Dandelion Root Tincture. 

The roots have long been used to treat liver disease, jaundice, hepatitis, gall-bladder infections, and to dissolve gallstones. It can ease PMS (woot!), headaches, skin problems and other ailments that indicate a sluggish liver. It's also used as a mild laxative. Increases insulin secretion, helping with diabetes & hypoglycemia.

Plantain & Dandelion infused oil - The leaves of Plantain, when made into a poultice or lotion/salve are used for treating sunburns, stings, insect bites, snakebites, poison ivy, rashes, burns, skin conditions like eczema, blisters and cuts. The Dandelion Blooms have pain-relieving properties. So the two together will be made into a natural pain reliever/healing salve.

Recently I've found the wonderful benefits of Essential Oils and I absolutely LOVE my essential oils... but no essential oil that I've found can remove the itch of a bug bite within minutes & take the bump away within an hour like my Plantain infused oil can!
Cheers for weeds & wildcrafting!

Here I've got Honeysuckle blooms, they took FOREVER to harvest! But SO worth the time.

As a tincture it is used to support different digestive disorders, including persistent diarrhea or chronic gastroenteritis that accompanies food poisoning and related complaints.
As a syrup (which I plan on making asap from the tincture) it is used for treating coughs - particularly if they're chronic.
The syrup may also be used as a combination therapy with other herbal flowers, including expectorant herbs such as Mullein & Marshmallow.
As a tea it is used for fever, sore throat, & inflammation of the breast, throat, eyes, especially for the flu.

It is known for its antibiotic & antiviral effects. And for its general cooling nature.
**However it is not intended for long term use**

 

 

Cleavers Herb. Who knew this nasty little, not-so-little, weed is so beneficial to our health!

It helps with PMS, Arthritis, skin conditions, even some types of cancer.
It's other benefits include anti-inflammatory, antiphlogistic, aperient, astringent, depurative, diaphoric, diuretic, febrifuge, tonic & vulnerary.

I'm more happy about the fact it helps with PMS :) which is the main reason I was SO excited that this "weed" is growing in our yard!

Lemon Balm! Ahhh this stuff is amazing.

Lovin' that golden color that only comes from a 2nd infusion. I waited 4 months for that brew!

Lemon Balm makes a wonderful nerve tonic. It is calming & helps soothe the nerves. But it's also known to have 8 different antiviral properties, 8 different sedative properties & 12 different anti-inflammatory properties! Not only that, the leaves are also antibacterial, antihistaminic & antioxidant! What's even better? You can easily grow it at home!
Sadly I didn't harvest enough to last us through the winter. It was wonderful to have a small shot or two of this to help Hubby and I wind down from the day. Next year tho... I'll be prepared!

I have such a wonderful Husband. This summer he bought me these herbs to add to my collection: Lemon Grass, Purple Sage, Rosemary, Italian Oregano, Pennyroyal, Aloe, Mojto Mint, St. Johns Wort, Bay Leaf & Foxglove. I'm so excited about these new herbs! Most of them are 3-4 times their size and had to be transplanted a couple times. They'll stay in pots until we're able to have a home of our own, so at the moment they're taking over our dinning room because it gets the best light.

We also had a beautiful little garden! Sadly we had issues with Cuc beatles and Powdery Mildew. But in spite of having those issues, we had lovely harvest of peppers, tomatoes, squash, cucs and pumpkins!

Sweet Aroma & Roma Tomatoes, Spaghetti Squash and a Pumpkin that had to be harvested before its time. (the Garlic was store bought)

So. Turns out my neighbor gave me an heirloom Fairytale Pumpkin instead of Butternut Squash. It was a MONSTER of a plant that was being trellised on the fence until I realized it was pumpkins, I was not prepared for this monster ... but it did quite well and I ended up 6 pumpkins (to my Hubbys great approval!) that weighed about 10-15 lbs each. Thankfully they store wonderfully! As we don't have the freezer space to process them all at this point =)

As I briefly mentioned above, Hubby and I have found the wonderful added benefits of having Essential Oils on hand. Sadly I can't mention the name of the company or post any pictures of my projects with them. But feel free to search us up on Instagram (SolaceNaturalLiving) or on facebook (facebook.com/SolaceNaturalLiving) or shoot me a message and I'd love to share more with you! They have helped support us in so many ways that it's so hard NOT to share. Hopefully in the near future we can share these oils enough to help us build our dream of having a homestead and a self sufficient lifestyle, complete with Goats, Chickens, Ducks, a very large veggie garden AND herb garden to help start our own Apothecary.

I'll end this very long post with this:
January happens to be our Birthday/Anniversary month. Hubby and I celebrated both our birthday's this week (Hubbys on the 11th & mine on the 13th) and our 7th wedding anniversary on the 12th! Yes, you read right. We got married the day between our birthday's 7 years ago. What a wonderful ride it has been. We look forward to many more happy, healthy years together.

I wish you all the best in this New Year!






Please Note: Use the information in this blog post at your own risk. Nothing presented in any form is to be construed as medical, nutritional, legal, or financial advice, or any other form of advice requiring a licensed professional. The opinions expressed here are intended for informational and entertainment purposes only.