If you look at the flowering stalks, while considering the Doctrine of Signatures, it closely resembles the spine. Many well-known, clinical herbalists now use it in treating pain associated with whiplash. ​

Herbalist 7Song keeps a tincture on hand for use in first aid as a musculoskeletal relaxant for acute situations. David Winston has a beautiful synergistic formula containing black cohosh, kava kava and ashwagandha. It also combines really nicely with St. John’s wort, lavender, rose, crampbark, wild yam and siberian ginseng depending on what you are needing it for. 
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When I think about this graceful, strong plant I now keep a few important reminders close to my heart: It is not for every woman going through menopause. It can easily be cultivated on my own land to ensure permeability in its own native habitat. Fresh root is ideal when making medicine with it because certain active constituents are not available through the dried root. Standardized extracts and pills should be avoided because of unpleasant side effects.

I also love the essence of its flowers: it imparts the ability to confront and actively transform negative, destructive, or threatening circumstances. In this way it is possible to gain enormous power, learning to balance and harness innate strength and physical prowess.

Here in New England I think we are all feeling the excitement and freshness of spring. Watching our beloved plants come back from their winter hibernation brings a sense of hope and renewal among other feelings of joy and wonderment. Usually towards the end of winter my brain starts excitedly brewing up ideas of herbal concoctions and wild harvesting that I want to accomplish during this time of year. With this feeling still in full force I am most certain that as a fellow plant lover you too have your own special plant friends that you are drawn to. Below are the green beings and recipes that I am especially in love with right now and I hope I can pass along something that sparks inspiration and brews something delightful in your life. ​
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Sweet Birch (Betula lenta): Also known as black birch, this aromatic tree has an almost identical composition to wintergreen oil, with its distinct and uplifting aroma. In the 19th century it came close to annihilation in the Appalachian Mountains when the locals learned that oil made from the bark and twigs could be sold for cash. Oh humans... Rest assured there is abundance of this lovely tree here in our open woods. To identify I like to use a little scratch and sniff approach on a twig. If it smells like wintergreen then you know you have found sweet birch. I usually harvest one large branch, cut with very sharp tree pruning shears above where the branch meets the trunk. The inner bark is anti-inflammatory, anti-rheumatic, analgesic, cooling, and moisturizing. With those properties in mind sweet birch makes an incredible infused oil for massaging into sore muscles, achy joints and very dry, irritated skin. This may be used as is or you can add essential oils of cardamom, lavender and chamomile to make a really nice final scent. ​

Spring holds within it the essence of new growth, unlimited possibilities, and a carefree wild spirit. My hope is for us all to embrace this child-like wonderment and frolic through the forest and fields, basket in hand, gleefully and lovingly playing with our plant friends. 

by Melanie Brown

I adore plants that we have so fondly deemed “weeds”.  Abundant, common, incredibly medicinal, and reaching out to pull us in whenever we walk by them. Stellaria media, or common chickweed, is one such weed that offers a generous amount of healing and nutritional uses.

In Latin Stellaria means “little star”; media means “in the midst of.” So here we are in the presence of a plant that has naturalized itself all over the world. It helps soil retain nitrogen and is easily cultivated by spreading the seeds on disturbed earth. To identify look for many small, starry white flowers with 5 deeply divided petals; growing in low, dense, green mats with a single line of hairs on one side of the smooth stalks, then a second line of hair on the opposite side when it reaches the leaf node. When I first encountered chickweed on a hot summer day, with the sun shining high in the sky I was amazed at how cool and moist it felt, as if the patch had just been gently rained upon. 

Chickweed is sweet, moist, nutritive and cool; it can be harvested throughout its growing period while in flower or not. Regularly harvesting chickweed will inspire it to branch and produce thick regrowth. Using scissors simply snip off the top aerial portion. It contains mucilage, saponins, silica, minerals, vitamins A, B, C and fatty acids. It is also astringent, anti-rheumatic, and vulnerary. When eaten raw in your wild salads it has a bright, clean taste without any bitterness and a touch of saltiness.

This demure, sweet plant has been shown to nourish the glandular and lymphatic systems. A tincture made with the fresh plant has the ability to dissolve cysts when taken regularly over a long period of time. Chickweed truly shines when we are encountering fevers, respiratory infections, allergies, bladder or kidney issues, liver stagnation, or digestive distress. Chickweed, used as a fresh poultice, draws out infection while also protecting and healing wounds. A decoction soaked compress or fresh plant poultice is refreshing and healing on dry, irritated eyes with or without an infection. A salve can also be made with fresh chickweed infused oil. Because it has such high water content I recommend infusing it using the “hot infusion method” such as in a crockpot or with a water circulator to prevent the growth of mold. A cream made with chickweed oil applied to eczema relieves itching and redness. Dried chickweed may also be drunk as a nourishing infusion weighing out one ounce to a quart of boiling water, covered and steeped 4 hours or overnight. 

Herbalists, such as Deb Soule from Avena Botanicals, love chickweed and see it as a most valuable plant to offer those in need of better nutrient absorption. “It is a safe and nourishing herb for a person of any age to take over several months when weak, chronically tired from overwork and stress, traumatized, anemic or recovering from a long-term illness or surgery.” Another respected herbalist, Jim Mcdonald,  reports that chickweed, along with plantain (Plantago spp.), is a staple in his all-purpose salve for bug bites, stings, angry red wounds, scrapes, boils, and dry skin.   

Both Matthew Wood and Susun Weed remark on chickweed’s ability to reduce fat and aid weight loss. Weed points to the high saponin content as the mechanism, while Wood looks to its effects on metabolism and endocrine function. Wood elaborates in his book, The Earthwise Herbal: A Complete Guide to Old World Medicinal Plants, “Chickweed not only subdues heat and lubricates dry conditions, but also regulates water levels and drives off excess dampness and fats. These actions show that it stimulates both sides of the metabolism, building and breaking down, not only through the liver but also through the endocrine system. Thus, it is used to lose weight, not just short-term water weight, but long-term deposits of fats.”

As you can tell Stellaria media lends itself to a wide range of healing benefits and food uses. This spring you may find me close to the ground, lying on my stomach in a bed of chickweed, eating, tincturing, juicing, infusing and simply admiring this shining star. ​

Melanie Brown is a native New Englander who always had an early connection to nature and the outdoors. Together with her four year old son she gathers the ingredients to make small batch plant based body care products which you can find at her herbal apothecary, FIR&ELM. She is a graduate of Boston School of Herbal Studies and currently attending The Gaia School of Healing and Earth Education in Vermont. Her passion is to share and spread the message of community herbalism that lies right outside in our own backyards.

by Jenny Hauf

I am lucky enough to have the pleasure of collaborating with my dear friend Steph Zabel, the founder of Herbstalk. This past weekend we got together to teach a class called “Waking Up to Spring with Herbs,” in which we discussed how to use, grow, and forage the herbs that support and nurture us as we transition from the black and white months of winter into the dawning deliciousness of spring. ​

Because we always like to have fresh herbs to pass around to our students I headed out to hunt for one of my favorite plant allies, stinging nettle, which we would be discussing in our class. In a trusty nook of Jamaica Plain I walking on a raised path amongst cattails in the lightly flurrying morning, traveling with my eyes to the earth. The shed raiment of autumn was everywhere, crisp and ashy, ready for green growth to cover it and spring rains to hasten its return to mud. 

As I searched for the tiny first leaves of Urtica dioica—deep green, laced with acid, and tinged purple-red—I discovered other things. There were the crocuses, closed from the cold, but still stalwart and sweet. Long pearls of snowdrop buds dangled in delicate drifts. I also found a single squill blossom, ragged but deeply blue and alive.  

Bramble leapt over and sidled the path, catching on my skirt and grabbing at my bare knees. Beyond the bramble rose cattails, some still fuzzy with the seed heads they had grown months before, swaying around me. Beyond the marsh were witch hazels, their spidery flowers egg yolk yellow, and a tremendous grandmother of a silver maple with branches tipped in a burgundy haze. 
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Snowflakes occasionally laced through the branches, stalks, and stems as I continued searching, and eventually I stumbled upon my prize: a tiny patch of nettles in miniature, their infant leaves unfanning and little stingers shimmering. Gratefully I snipped a few and laid them in a paper bag. Overhead and throughout the marsh the red-winged blackbirds sang, and I headed home with a handful of brand new life in my arms.

So now that we have a better understanding of how important stomach acid is to our health it becomes apparent that antacids (PPI’s) are creating a vicious cycle that we are unable to break free of. They neutralize the already low acid in our stomachs, and when we try to come off of them the pain is unbearable and further damage is caused to the esophagus from food remaining undigested, sustaining a dependency on these medications that are now proven unsafe. 

After becoming educated to what was going on I became concerned for family members who I knew were going through this exact issue -- one being on antacids for over a year and the other experiencing painful heartburn almost daily. So I threw on my green cape (insert super herb healing hero here), gathered my most trusted nourishing plants, and flew on over to my open minded family members. On top of healing with plants we must often look at our diets and lifestyle patterns as well. Indigestion and everything that accompanies it is often manifested by processed foods, refined sugar, over consumption of alcohol and coffee, and unhealthy stress. It is also not wise to run over to your medicine cabinet and throw out your medications cold turkey. Over time, with some small yet important changes, you will find yourself no longer turning to drugs for relief. I have witnessed and experienced the following three herbs providing profound healing on the entire digestive system.

Dandelion (Taraxacum officnale): If I were to guess, most people know about this sweet, generous, yellow-sunshine faced flower. On top of being a supreme liver tonic, dandelion replenishes healthy levels and maintains production of HCL and bile. All parts of dandelion may be harvested and used at any time of the year, with the root being the best choice for medicine here. I highly recommend making your own tincture or vinegar, for there is nothing more satisfying and joyful than making and taking your own lovingly gathered plant medicine. 10-20 drops of tincture before each meal is an excellent regimen. 

Slippery Elm (Ulmus rubra) and Marshmallow (Althaea officinalis): Both of these plants contain mucilage. These complex carbohydrates have a lubricating quality so that in the body they produce an effect similar to mucus, coating and soothing raw, exposed, irritated, dried membranes. Taking both plants will address the damage done by acid reflux and medications. Slippery elm bark is incredibly nourishing, especially for the digestive system. I like to make a cold water infusion by weighing out a half ounce of cut and sifted herb in a quart sized mason jar, letting it steep for 2-4 hours, then straining it and sipping it throughout the day. I also learned from herbalist Susun Weed that rolling powdered slippery elm together with honey to form into small bite-sized balls can be taken as often as needed. Slippery elm has never failed me in instantly relieving heart burn. Marshmallow is cooling, moistening and sweet and all parts may be used, but the root contains the highest amount of mucilage with the cold water method of infusing working best in this application as well. 

Incorporating all three of these plants into your life -- while also making necessary lifestyle changes -- will bring great and lasting positive results. Break the cycle and heal with whole plants and whole foods for whole health. 

by Melanie Brown

A wealth of folklore, magic, and superstition is attached to this shrub-like tree, often described as a “complete medicine chest,” because of its extensive healing abilities on a wide variety of ailments.  The most used species is Sambucus nigra, which grows throughout North America, Europe and many other parts of the world.  Its history of medicinal use includes the entire plant in different preparations and dosages, such as the fresh leaf tincture as a reliable nervine. Today most commonly used are the fragrant white flowers that bloom in the spring and the ripe purple-black berries in the fall. The entire plant has shown to possess both anti-viral and anti-bacterial properties while also being a moderate immune system stimulant.