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.

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 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.

by Patrice Green

Fall is a time to traditionally hunt and harvest mushrooms, and an appropriate time to learn more about a specific group - the medicinal mushrooms.  Specifically, let's take a closer look at Reishi and Chaga.

Reishi: (Red Reishi / Ganoderma lucidum / Ling Zhi)

Known as the King of all medicinal mushrooms, Reishi is well known for its immune-enhancing properties.  An herbal adaptogen, Reishi's goal is to restore the body to homeostasis. Safe to take daily over a long period of time, Reishi is one of the most revered herbs in Traditional Chinese Medicine, earning it the nickname The Mushroom of Immortality.  Known to help balance the endocrine system, Reishi helps with thyroid disorders.  A powerful Shen tonic, Reishi has a profound affect on the nervous system, calming the spirit and helping the mind to focus.  Reishi grows on decaying trees, preferring maple.   Not recommended for use in conjunction with chemotherapy or other treatments designed to reduce the immune system, Reishi is particularly suited to helping re-build the body, mind and spirit post-treatment.

by Patrice Green

As I write this, it's the day after the Summer Solstice, and a few days before Saint John's Eve/Day.  We are in the midst of midsummer herbal magic!  One of the most prolific plants at this time of year is the mysterious Saint John's Wort, Hypericum perforatum.  I say mysterious because Saint John's Wort will suddenly appear in an area, stay for one or a few seasons, then will disappear only to re-appear in another location where it is most needed.  

This plant has a rich history of being used medicinally from Ancient Greece to the Crusades.  Used to treat a variety of ailments including pain and bruises as well as mood swings, bed-wetting, and emotional issues, Saint Joh's Wort's Latin name is derived from the tiny perforations naturally occurring in the leaves (perforatum).  The other half of its name symbolizes the sun, hypericum - named for Hyperion, the Greek Titan who fathered the Sun, Moon and Dawn.   A sprig of Saint John's Wort over the door was traditionally thought to protect against evil spirits. Traditionally this plant was harvested on the morning of the Summer Solstice or the morning of Saint John's Day (June 24th), when the plant and its flowers were at their peak.  It is always best to harvest this plant after a series of hot days for increased potency.

by Patrice Green

One of the most beautiful spring flowers is the endangered Pink Lady's Slipper, Cypripedium acaule, also known as Mocassin Flower.  If you come upon one (or several) as you amble through the woods this time of year, count yourself blessed!  

These beautiful flowers are in the orchid family.  One of the reasons they are so rare is that they are slow growing and need very specific fungi to help the seedlings survive, specifically one from the Rhizoctonia genus. Most seeds have internal food supplies; but not so for the Pink Lady's Slipper.  These orchid seeds require the assistance of the Rhizoctonia fungus to break open the seed.  The fungus attaches to the seed, and then passes on food and nutrients.  Once the plant reaches an age where it starts producing most of its own nutrients, the fungus then extracts nutrients from the orchid roots. A Pink Lady's Slipper plant can live twenty years or more.

by Juliette Abigail Carr

It seems like folks have a hard time making a really good milky oats tincture.  When I teach advanced tincture making, we always discuss past “failures” or at least tinctures that didn’t turn out how students expected, since there is more space to learn from our mistakes than from easy successes.  Milky Oats is one that comes up often, so I’m going to explain the little tricks to growing it and making medicine.

Oat (Avena sativa) is beloved as a restoring, nutritive nervine tonic (medicine whose effects build slowly over time).  In women’s health we cherish oat for its properties as a mineral rejuvenator and protector against adrenal exhaustion -- goodbye postpartum depression!  Hello restful sleep, coping skills, and an end to feeling stretched too thin, exhausted, and sapped of vitality.  As an antidepressant nervine it has a grounding, moistening effect for folks who feel burnt out, dried up, and frazzled.  It is a nurturing rejuvenator to the nervous system and adrenal glands, kidney and liver function, and it restores the minerals your body needs for your heart, muscles, bones, and nerve transmission to work well. It bestows a feeling of general well-being to those of us lucky enough to bask in its welcoming green glow.  As is common, the tea is a gentler, more long-term builder known for its mineral-related actions, while the tincture is stronger and more known for antidepressant and nervine actions.