Tag Archives: herbs

Garlic Mustard is not all bad

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The other day, my family was walking around our land exploring, when Mathew decided to take a short cut through some weeds. Within moments, he started to scream; his legs began to burn and itch. He had walked through a patch of stinging nettles. The stems and leaves of the plant are covered with fine hairs that irritate the skin on contact. The hairs contain acetylcholine and histamine, which create a burning sensation on contact. Some people actually use this reaction to alleviate arthritic pain. Yes, stinging nettles has anti-inflammatory properties.

This year, we had a bumper crop of garlic mustard and I simply grabbed a handful of leaves, crumpled them up and gave it to Mathew to rub on the areas that were burning. Within 2 minutes, the burning sensation was extinguished!  I have found that plants, which provide remedies for another plant, grow nearby, very convenient nonetheless.

Garlic mustard is an invasive plant that came from Europe. Unfortunately, like most exotics, there is nothing to keep them in balance. They are opportunist, like all organisms, taking over lands and pushing out the native plants.  They easily out-compete native plants by aggressively monopolizing light, moisture, nutrients, soil and space. Unfortunately, critters and insects that depend on early native plants for their foliage, pollen, nectar, fruits, seeds and roots are deprived of their essential food sources when garlic mustard replaces them. You can try pulling them out and eating them but it is very difficult to keep them under control. It is very important that when you do pull them, get all the roots because new plants will sprout from root fragments. Garlic mustard is perfectly edible in soups, salad and pesto. Susun Weed has some great ideas on eating garlic mustard

Although, garlic mustard is very invasive and out-competes our lovely native plants, I will always be grateful to it for healing my son’s burning legs so quickly.

Please share your herbal remedies and I will continue to share with you.

Goldenrod, so misunderstood

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More often than not, Goldenrod has been falsely accused of contributing to seasonal allergies. This is so amazing, since it actually ameliorates many allergies. It does bloom at the same time as ragweed, which does contributes to many people’s allergies. Therefore, it is easy to be confused. Goldenrod’s pollen is sticky which means that it is not pollinated by wind and needs bees and other critters to get the job done. But ragweed does get wind pollinated, which contributes to allergies.

I lived in New York’s Hudson Valley(which is known for horrible allergies) for over 30 years and for most of the time, my allergies were manageable, by flushing my nasal passages with the neti pot and sometimes taking Claritin. When I was pregnant and nursing, I simply used the neti pot, which gave me total relief. After my son, Mathew, was weaned, my allergies got out of control. I took and tried everything, I used the neti pot, took Claritin, Nasacort, Allergena (homeopathic tincture for pollen allergies) and Benadryl (I’m one of those weird people that Benadryl actually keeps me up), all at once.  Nothing seemed to give me relief; my symptoms were barely under control.

In 2010, we moved to New York’s Finger Lakes region, so my allergies were not as bad until this year when we had a crazy early spring, where everything started to bloom all at once in March. I took everything again in addition to drinking nettle infusions and a goldenrod tincture – nothing. I was having my worst allergy days of my life.

But one day, I decided to just drink the nettle infusions and take goldenrod tincture. Not sure why I decided this, but I am so grateful that I did. I felt some relief the first day and by the fourth day, I felt normal! It has been over two months and some days I even forget to take the goldenrod because I feel so good!

Recently, I slept at a friend’s house that has a cat. The last couple of years, my cat allergy has been awful too. I used to be able to pet a cat and be fine as long as I kept my hands away from my face and eyes. But again, after Mathew was weaned, I couldn’t be in a room with a cat unless I had taken Benadryl. My symptoms went from mild itchy eyes to asthmatic. So, this weekend I put goldenrod to the test and it passed with flying colors! I was fine and even slept on a bed that the cat had visited.

Goldenrod is best known as a soothing tonic for the whole genito-urinary tract. It is used to treat kidney and bladder infections. However, due to its astringent and diuretic properties it dries up my nasal passages while the anti-inflammatory actions help to soothe the irritations caused by the allergens. I don’t even think about doing the neti pot anymore, it doesn’t seem necessary.

I have gone through my supply of goldenrod tincture so I am now making more but until it is ready, I am drinking a quart of a combination of nettle and goldenrod infusion daily. I am overjoyed to say that I continue to experience minimal allergy symptoms. It is helpful but I will be glad when the goldenrod tincture is ready as it reduces my allergy symptoms the best – so far.

All information is shared for educational purposes only and has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration.  This information is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

If you are having a difficult time finding goldenrod locally, Healing Spirits Herb Farm is a great company to order from.