This is a vibrant time of year. Energy begins to swell in everything as the wind swirls the winter away and movement quickens our daily lives. Many consider this the time for spring cleaning; maybe instead, life is just requesting its manifestations to organize and make ready for the incredible abundance about to be bestowed. Imagine if, rather than putting all that energy into cleaning toxins out of our lives, bodies, and environments every spring, we took our cue from nature and put energy into creation. We could feed our bodies in harmony with the season by eating local food, thereby engaging the healing potential present in the season. We could take action (movement like the wind) to ensure that our water, earth, and air are honored and celebrate their sanctity together in community! The traditional Chinese theory of Five Elements recognizes this as the time of liver and gall bladder energy. It is the best time of the year to re-create these functions in our bodies, and the time they act out if they need attention. One way these organs call for assistance is through the eyes. I see so many people suffering from hay fever in the spring; watery, itchy, burning eyes is one symptom that makes life less than wonderful for these people. Two herbs in reach of everyone that strengthen and nourish the liver are dandelion and burdock. They appear abundantly before the height of hay fever time, giving folks ample time to incorporate them into the daily diet. If you need help identifying wild herbs, join us for an herb walk this summer. If you want the herbs now, ferret out one of Seattle’s fine herb shops.
2 oz. dandelion root 2 oz. burdock root ¼ oz. licorice root (adjust to taste) Place ¼ of this mixture in a saucepan and add 4 cups boiling water; simmer for ½ hour with cover on pan. Strain tea and add 2 cups water to the herbs and simmer again, then mix teas together. Drink 1-3 cups of the tea 5 days a week during the spring season. Increase the dry herbs by four times to create enough tea mixture to last a while. Tea may be drunk full strength or diluted in water and taken throughout the day. Some people find that Oregon grape root augments the mixture. This can be added to the dry blend as another dry root or taken in the tea as a tincture.
Green is the color associated with this season, and it’s certainly everywhere we turn. It is also the color of bile, made in the liver and stored in the gall bladder to be used for digestion and assimilation of fats and fatty acids necessary for health. Green is the color of chlorophyll, which closely resembles hematin, an element in blood that, when combined with protein, forms hemoglobin. Hemoglobin has a large molecule of iron at its center, whereas chlorophyll has a molecule of magnesium; otherwise, our blood and the "blood" of plants are essentially alike. The liver is the organ responsible for the health of the blood; by incorporating green, leafy vegetables into the spring diet, we make many valuable nutrients such as protein, calcium, phosphorus, B vitamins, and vitamins C, E, and A available to our "re-creation." Many people in the Northwest enjoy the avocation of "nettling," harvesting wild nettle for enjoyment and nourishment.
Make your way to a nettle patch at the edge of the wood. Bring along a big basket or bag, latex dishwashing gloves for each picker, and your kids or friends to help. Pick a big mess of nettle. Singing and frivolity increase the nutrient value of the harvested greens! Pick carefully so as not to dirty the greens; then you don’t have to wash them, which preserves valuable water-soluble enzymes and vitamins. If this seems too huge a leap, wait to nettle until after a rain so you can reassure yourself that they are clean! Upon returning home, place the nettle into a large saucepan with ½ to 1 inch of water and cook for 5 minutes (you may wish to cook them a little longer the first time to be sure the sting is neutralized before eating). Yes, these greens have the built-in protective action of stinging would-be eaters with tiny amounts of formic acid when raw (nettle is never a salad green). To increase the nutrient uptake, serve the cooked greens with lemon juice or vinegar. Enjoy!
When the body is given nutrients it needs to thrive, it automatically releases metabolic waste, just as a small child lets go of a spoon to grasp a colorful rattle! What is water, really? Where does it come from? Can you name the watershed in which you live? How can we preserve and care for this vital element? These are all questions I’ll look at in June as we approach the fire of summer. Remember: traditional herbal healing was and is about understanding the elements that create our very lives, bodies, and world. To heal our world and ourselves, in this time, is an act of love. If you have enjoyed this column over the last few years and would like to meet me and see what RavenCroft Garden is all about, we’re extending an invitation to our community to visit in celebration of our tenth anniversary year. Like a ten-year-old child, we’re beginning to have a sense of who we are and our place in the world! EagleSong, C.C.H., director of RavenCroft Garden in Monroe, WA, is a nationally recognized herbal educator. She is dedicated to keeping herbal wisdom within reach of all people and connected to the healing wisdom of nature. P.O. Box 229, Startup, WA 98293; (360) 794-2938; <ravencroft@earthlink.net>. |
This month we are held in the expansive embrace of spring. Everywhere, growth is moving upward and outward, covered by a delicious green mantle. Relief! We’ve made it through the dark time! Rock plants and bulbs explode with color in gardens everywhere. Trees and shrubs are pruned; perennials are ready to be divided. A flush of wild greens, chickweed, dandelion, and nettle are being enjoyed as the new lettuces emerge. These constant rhythmic patterns hold us like children if we give ourselves to their comforting presence.