Winter Herbal Care

Caring for ourselves and our families through

Winter

As the wheel once again turns to the coldest and darkest time for those of us in the northern hemisphere, we can benefit from attuning ourselves to the cycles of the Earth. We are naturally urged to slow down, rest more, and turn within. While this can be quite challenging with busy lifestyles as well as the swirl of holiday merriment and stress as the season begins, there are approaches we can take to ensure our optimal health, help prevent sickness, and tend to it with care when it does occur.

ò In winter, we bring the warmth and light inside – into our homes and into our bodies. Fires in the hearth and candles can help nurture our need for this light. Likewise, warming foods and herbs, along with loving relationships and simple creative endeavors such as cooking, crafts, storytelling and writing can help keep the fires within alive.

ò Our bodies may need more water as well as essential fatty acids such as in flax and fish oils, which may also help temper wintertime blues.

ò We need to keep our bodies moving everyday. Getting out into the sunshine, walking, playing in the snow, and dancing or yoga indoors.

Foods

Nourishing marrow soups and homemade veggie broth, mineral-rich roots such as beets, carrots, parsnips, and rutabagas, dark leafy greens, and whole grains are all wonderful. This is an excellent time for trying new recipes and foods. Keeping it colorful and varied helps ensure a variety of nutrients. Including warming spices to foods is an ideal way to include herbs in our wintertime ways. Adding even very small amounts of sea vegetables, astragalus (in soups), or shitake mushrooms also makes an immune medicine.


Wintertime Herbs

These plant medicines and spices can be used in cooking, in teas or tinctures, either as simples (by themselves) or in blends. Among the abundance of useful plants for this time:

Warming Herbs - Cayenne, Ginger, Cinnamon, Cardamon, Garlic, Rosemary, Sage

Nervines – these calm, soothe, and may help enliven the heart: Oats, Lemon Balm, Chamomile, Nettles, Motherwort, Linden flowers

Immunomodulators and Adaptogens – These help build our overall resistance to disease preventatively, as well as aid our bodies ability to adapt to stress: Reishi (probably best in capsule form) & Astragalus are my two favorites for this time of year. There is no herb to substitute fundamental self-care with proper rest and nutrition however.

Colds & Flu

Increased rest, soups, staying warm, beginning herbal treatment in early stages if possible, and staying consistent with dosages are fundamental in herbal treatment of wintertime sickness. Indicated herbs do vary depending on the person being treated and characteristics of symptoms. Often combined each other and with peppermint or ginger in a tea, some general suggestions include:

ò Elderberry - flowers and berries traditionally used for colds and flu. Sambucus is great for kids, especially as a syrup, yet also useful for adults. Tea: one cup boiling water poured over 2 tsp. flowers, infused 10 minutes or 2 to 4 ml of tincture, three times per day. Safe in pregnancy.

ò Yarrow - used in acute stage of colds and flu, this antimicrobial herb is also known to help keep infection from reaching the lungs. Use 2-4 grams of yarrow in tea or 2-4 ml of tincture, three times per day. Not in pregnancy.

ò Boneset – A favorite for bringing down fevers and dealing with aches and congestion in colds and flu. Tea: 1-2 tsp steeped in covered container 15 minutes, three times per day up to every hour. “Bitter as all get out” explained Appalachian herbalist Tommy Bass, yet for the hardy, there’s nothing like it to bring down a fever. Not for use in pregnancy.

Expectorants- these include: mullein leaf or marshmallow root for a dry cough; thyme tea or tincture, or eucalyptus leaves as a tea and steam for a wet mucus- rich cough.

Suggested Books for more information:

The Family Herbal and Herbal Healing for Women by Rosemary Gladstar. This remarkable herbalist shares valuable traditional knowledge for addressing a wide range of health issues as well as simply enhancing well-being.

Naturally Healthy Babies & Children by Aviva Jill Romm. This is a commonsense guide to herbal remedies and nutrition for young ones

Medical Herbalism by David Hoffmann. A hardy text full of applicable information for the more serious student. the less serious and more economical herbalist might try his Holistic Herbal.

Mythically, winter is the time of the wizened old woman and old man, the Grandmothers and Grandfathers - those who have lived fully and well. They are the old ones who have lived long before us and who now guard the gates of life and death. They are guides in the darkness, weavers of fate, and even glorious angels, whose reverence has endured for at least thousands of years. They speak to us to honor and listen to the stories of our elders as well as to connect with the places inside ourselves which are ancient and wise. Winter is an excellent time to remember and discover that which is truly most important to us and to our world, as though we were looking over our lives at their end. What might seem most essential to us then? The still darkness of winter invites us to enter into the timelessness of our own spirits and to connect with that which most truly nourishes our bodies and souls. While no doubt a supreme time to treasure and deepen bonds with loved ones, winter is also a time of great benefit from quiet reflection, from time spent in conscious self-discovery. Journaling, meditation, prayer, ritual, artwork, and creative expression of all kinds can emerge from the darkness of winter.

Winter’s promise is the rebirth of the sun at winter solstice as the daylight once again begins to grow and soon enough, the Earth will warm again. This time of sacred darkness can be well spent envisioning ideas and plans for our lives and for the year ahead as we rest and replenish our vital energies.

Curried Chicken Coconut Soup

Curried Chicken Coconut Soup

A very warming soup for wintertime

Will definitely help cure just about whatever ails you

* About 3 lbs organic chicken w/ bones * 2 cans coconut milk
* 1 bunch chopped green onion * 1 -3 Tbs curry paste
* 2 –3 stalks lemongrass (if available) * 2 – 3 Tbs mined ginger
* 1 bunch chopped spinach * juice of 1 lime
* 1 bunch chopped cilantro * pinches of sea salt

Cut edible parts of lemon grass into small pieces and set aside to add later, saving stalks. Boil, then simmer chicken in one quart water for 40 minutes until done, skimming the top as you go. Take chicken out of broth and allow to cool. Then separate the meat. Place bones back in broth with lemongrass stalks and simmmer on lowest setting for another hour or up to twelve hours. Meanwhile, wash and prepare veggies and ginger (cuttings thrown in with broth), and cut chicken meat into small pieces. Let broth cool a bit, then strain out bones and lemongrass stalks into empty pot. Place remaining ingredients together with strained broth except for the lime and cilantro, which are added just before serving. Simmer on low for at least twenty minutes, longer is fine. Curry paste can be mixed in small bowl of broth separately before being added, to ensure smoothness. It can be quite hot, so add to taste.
* Is excellent served with basmati rice or rice noodles .
* The longer the bones are simmered, the richer the broth. Canned chicken broth and boneless chicken can be substituted for boiling processes (yet soup will lack fullness of both taste and nutrient richness). Making hardy stock is a lost art, see book Nourishing Traditions or www.westonaprice.org/foodfeatures/broth.html for more detail).