Hi First name / herb angel,
Medicine making aka plant play is a beautiful way to get in touch with our truest desires as we dive into the process of setting intention, communing with plants, blending potions, & cultivating our craft. It's an art, a skill, fluid, playful, medicinal, & full of learning curves, surprises, & “mistakes." The amount of times I've steeped a tea expecting one taste & getting another, I can't count. This is especially burned in my memory with Blue Vervain, not knowing that delicate plant with pretty blue flowers was a fierce bitter! I remember the pleasant surprise of Burdock Root turning my water a greenish hue & not so pleasant whoops of waiting weeks for a tincture to be ready only to realize I didn't label it & have no recollection, like zero, of what's inside.
The creative process & art of medicine making is truly one of my deepest joys in this life. Each time feels like a deeper connection to the plants, my body, my senses, my dreams, ancestors, & spirit guides. I get to say, “last time I steeped Fennel seeds in hot water for 15 minutes for a tummy tea & it was good. But this time I need something stronger. So I'm gonna simmer on low for 15 minutes to really draw out the medicine & also add some Ginger.”
Watching colors change during an infusion process, whether it's tea, tincture, syrup, or an oil, is also just too delightful. Like, okay I see you Violet Syrup! This is Violet's season by the way, she flowers in Spring. I know Violet as a gentle lymphagogue, supporting us with flow, emotional regulation, softening hard tissue, & is a babe at being purple & nutritious.
Making medicine in the Spring for me includes working with what's in season & embracing play & creativity. It's also about setting intention over my brews with deep knowing that my truest desires are coming to fruition. Everything we've been dreaming up last Winter & years past is possible & beginning to see some light & growth this Spring. Especially with all that release & space we cleared with the Scorpio full moon at the beginning of the week, chile! Oh, & Pluto's gone retrograde bbs.
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Sweet & sour flavors combine with Strawberries & Dandelion in this yummy sounding shrub: Drinking Vinegar: A Dandelion & Strawberry Shrub Recipe
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A lot of the greens & herbs associated with Spring are nutritious & mineral rich! Vinegar is especially amazing at extracting & preserving all that nourishment. Learning Herbs has our back on a lil guide to herbal vinegars: How to Make Herbal Vinegars
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Food as Medicine
Here's a sweet reminder that food can be medicinal too! What we eat is foundational to our well being & we can easily turn cooking into plant play.
I made a blended Nettle Dill Soup over the weekend & it was not only delicious, but blending brought out the most beautiful, electric green color! I was shook! Here's the recipe I went off of. Note that I left out the half & half & added a bunch of fresh Dill in at the same time as the Nettle & it was so worth it. Play how you may ;)
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Here's a non exhaustive compilation of some of my go to farms & retailers to source herbs, fresh & dry, in bulk so you can get your plant play on!
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