Preparing for winter SADness

People of all ages find the transition into winter and the months until spring arrives difficult. The urge to hibernate is strong but in busy, modern society it becomes more and more difficult to achieve.

There are several simple and practical strategies which can be put into place to help allay the different forms of darkness. Much of these are around behavior, which many people find challenging. If you rant and wail against doing something different or changing your comfortable habits think about this: If you always do what you’ve always done, you will always get what you’ve always got.

If there are issues which you find unhelpful in your life, then this time of approaching and preparing for winter can be your opportunity to ask yourself, “Is what I am doing helpful or might there be a different way of achieving what I want that I could explore?” Changes don’t have to be major, small steps can lead to amazing outcomes.

If you know you suffer with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), consider investing in a SAD lamp or SAD bulbs which can be fixed into ordinary lamps. Those who have them say they make the world a brighter place in the winter.

Make sure you go outside every day, preferably between 12pm and 1pm, to expose yourself to the maximum light possible during winter months. Children and adults benefit from outdoor exercise so they are physically tired when bedtime approaches. Even if you work in the centre of a city, try to discover your local parks or canals which can be reached during a lunch break.

At weekends, go for a walk which includes lots of trees. There is something very comforting about woodland which will hopefully have a positive effect on your mental health. Notice the colours of leaves, barks and buds. There can be an amazing variety, even in the depths of winter.

Think about what you are eating. It is tempting to increase your intake of calories in the form of warm, comfort food with lots of carbohydrates. We may have needed to increase our bulk to see us through the lean days of early spring a hundred years ago, but it really isn’t necessary now.

Instead, increase your protein intake. Make lots of nourishing soups and stews. They may take time but if you invest in a slow cooker, they can be prepared the night before or in the morning and then enjoyed later. If you have a freezer, always make double or triple quantities so you can freeze the excess and have something to eat when you don’t feel like cooking.

Homemade broth produced either from bones or vegetables can help keep your immune system buoyant.

Bone Broth

Chicken carcass or large beef/lamb or pork bones

2 tblsps cider vinegar

3 bay leaves

Bouquet garni of anti-viral herbs (rosemary, thyme, sage)

10 peppercorns

3 or more cloves of garlic crushed

1 onion peeled and sliced and or leeks

3 celery sticks

Cover the bones in a large saucepan with water. Add 1-2 tablespoons of cider vinegar to help release the minerals from the bones. Add anti-viral herbs e.g. rosemary, thyme, sage, bay. (1 pinch of each herb plus 1 or 2 bay leaves) peppercorns for flavour, onions and leeks for pro-biotic stimulation of good gut bacteria, celery sticks (at least 3) for prevention of gout and help with arthritic or inflammatory conditions. DON'T ADD SALT.

Bring to the boil and simmer for at least one hour. If you are using large mutton or beef bones put aside 3-4 or more hours making sure the liquid level doesn't drop too much. If making stock in a cookpot/slow cooker, simmer all day on low. Strain the stock and use to add a mixture of vegetables or vegetables and meat. If the bones have meat left on them, use it in the soup. Alternatively the stock can be frozen in small quantities and used as a nourishing drink or sauce base later.

Nourishing Vegetable Stock

If you are vegetarian or vegan, you can still make a nourishing stock by cooking vegetables, herbs, roots and mushrooms together for long periods.  Start by dicing at least half an onion per person and sweat in olive oil with at least two cloves of garlic. Add half a pint of water or vegetable broth per person together with a large handful of peeled and chopped seasonal vegetables such as carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, cabbage, celery, corn, turnips, potatoes and fresh or tinned tomatoes. Add one small handful of seaweed per person to provide seasoning and to strengthen the immune system. Finally add one ounce fresh, or one-half ounce dried mushrooms per person (any kind) together with dried or fresh herbs (rosemary, thyme, oregano, basil, marjoram, and sage) and tonic roots (Siberian ginseng, astragalus, burdock, dandelion, chicory, yellow dock, American ginseng).  Bring to the boil and simmer for an hour. You may wish to remove the roots before serving.

Try to eat your evening meal at least two hours before you plan to go to bed so your body isn't trying to digest the food instead of preparing to sleep. If you do eat late, it is possibly better to delay bedtime until your stomach is less full. Try to avoid eating foods containing tyramine, such as bacon, cheese, ham, aubergines, pepperoni, raspberries, avocado, nuts, soy sauce, red wine, late at night as they might keep you awake. Tyramine produces a brain stimulant. If you do feel hungry near to bedtime, choose something like bread or cereal which releases serotonin; this will help you relax.

Caffeine is another stimulant, which stays in the blood stream for several hours. If you have trouble getting to sleep after drinking tea, coffee or strong chocolate, you might like to try some caffeine free drinks or herbal teas. Too much alcohol also makes you restless, so a nightcap might not be a good idea. Alcohol and coffee are also diuretics, disturbing your sleep during the night because you need to go to the toilet.

To sleep effectively, the body must prepare for sleep, so establishing a good bedtime routine is really helpful. The hour before bed should be spent “pottering”, not concentrating and try not to include any stimulating activity.

On days when things are particularly difficult, take a bath before you go to bed. To that bath add a concentrated tea brewed from lavender, catnip, lemon balm and chamomile. Try drinking a small cup of chamomile tea half an hour before bed. Soak for a while in the bath but once out, you must go straight to bed, maybe read for ten minutes then lights out. No TVs, phones, electronic games or anything else in the bedroom and the bedroom must be dark.

On those nights when your brain insists on talking to itself in ever decreasing circles, keep a dropper bottle of passionflower tincture by your bedside. The dose is one dropperful and it will shut your brain up and let you sleep. You can use this with children, especially during times of stress such as exams or after a bereavement.

You may have to make the tincture yourself by either growing the Passionflower (Passiflora incarnate) in a heated greenhouse or buying the dried herb and infusing it in vodka for three weeks. I doubt you will be able to buy the tincture anywhere in the UK unless you obtain it from a qualified herbalist or import it from abroad.

The herbal combination noted to address SAD issues developed by the American herbalist, David Winston, is equal parts of St John’s wort with lemon balm. This can be taken as a tea, a combined tincture or glycerite, or as a syrup.

SAD Syrup

1 l water

20 g dried lemon balm or 50g fresh chopped herb

20 g dried St John’s wort or 50g fresh, chopped herb

Grated rind and juice of one lemon
450 g sugar
Put herb in water with grated lemon rind, bring to a boil, let simmer 20-30 minutes, strain. Clean out pan, pour liquid back into it, let sit on minimum heat until you only have 20ml left Add sugar, simmer until sugar has dissolved, add lemon juice, pour into sterilized jars or bottles, seal and label.

I usually make my syrup from fresh herbs which I bruise or chop, I use aerial parts of both plants. Normally I only use the flowers of SJW to make oil and tincture, but I often make the syrup when the plants have gone to seed, so I use seed heads, flowers and some of the stalk.

Remember lemon balm only has a shelf life of 6 months when dry, so if you buy some from a supplier, ask when it was picked. You should also pick the leaves before they flower, but if most of my plants have flowered when I make syrup, I try to pick as many secondary shoots as I can (shoots which grow up from stems cut earlier in the year).

The dosage for SAD syrup would be around 1tsp three times a day. Don't use this syrup if you are already taking SSRI drugs for depression or if you've had a bad reaction to SJW in the past. Some people who take medication for migraine conditions find it can bring on a migraine.

Making remedies from herbs you have grown, harvested and stored will always be more effective than store bought because they have experienced the same environment as you and you know what you're getting.

Take care with anything which contains valerian. Although it is a common sleep aid, 10% of people who take it find it stimulating rather than soporific. You really need a whole weekend to see which way it affects you personally. (I have a blog post on this here).

I always think of valerian as top of the herbal sleep tree. I suggest people start with chamomile, lemon balm and catmint first (singly). Lemon verbena can be used interchangeably with lemon balm.

Here are some very pleasant combinations you could try.

• Lemon balm and lime flower
• Lemon balm, chamomile and spearmint.
• Lemon verbena and marshmallow leaves

These herbs can all be used with young children over the age of two

If you are looking for soporifics, then field poppy, californian poppy and wild lettuce can all be tinctured and given in drop doses with a maximum dose of 10 drops.

To make a californian poppy tincture, use the whole plant, roots and all - remove all soil, chop of and cover with vodka in a jam jar for 3 weeks. You can make your own tincture by purchasing dried herbs from a reputable supplier (Try Neal's Yard or Just Botanics if you are in the UK.)

Californian poppy tincture and scullcap tincture can be used for anxiety during the day, again in drop doses. The poppy is also suitable for pain relief in two hourly doses. If you don't want to use alcohol you can use a glycerite instead but their shelf life isn't as long. Be aware that Californian poppy may show up in random drugs test so if your job or driving depends on clean drug tests, you may want to avoid the preparation.

I hope you will find something helpful from what I've suggested and have a "good" winter.

What to do with St John’s Wort?

St John’ Wort is my ultimate summer herb. The date when my first yellow starflower opens tells me how the season fares. This year is was 21^st June, Midsummer’s Day, so although the winter was long and spring cold and late, the plants are progressing as normal. When the last seed forms in late September I know summer is over and world is turning once more.

St John’s wort was once of the first herbs I grew. Everyone talked and wrote about it, embodying it with an air of mystery. It was deemed to be very powerful, copying the pharmaceutical drugs which tackled mild to moderate depression. There was also talk of it being used to treat burns arising from the Chernobyl nuclear disaster. How could a herb have such widespread action?

I knew the active part of the plant was the flower and the tiny, perforated leaves which gave it its name “perforatum”. If you couldn’t see light coming through the tiny holes, then the plant would not be particularly active (much to the dismay of those with ornamental hypericums growing in their gardens!).

My first products were the flowers infused in sunflower oil on my kitchen windowsill. Christopher Hedley taught me to use a light oil since the plant was delicate, but I know others prefer olive oil if they are looking for something which penetrates the skin more easily and has medicinal effects of its own. I leave it alone all summer, adding to the jars every day or so and topping them up as needed until I have enough oil for the coming year.

One year I put a lid on the jar, thinking to deter insects but was taught a salutary lesson when I discovered mould growing on the top. Fresh plant material contains water and if you don’t allow it to evaporate you are likely to grow something you don’t want. Now, if I were to bother with a cover, I’d fashion something out of paper or cotton.

The development of St John’s Wort oil is an amazing spectacle. After only two days the oil begins to change colour and by the end of one or two weeks, the familiar crimson oil emerges. It must have sunlight to effect the change. If you stick your jar of oil in a dark cupboard for several weeks, it will remain yellow. (Ask me how I know!)

The oil can be used in so many different ways.

• As a sunscreen
• For general burn healing
• With honey and calendula as a poultice for burns
• For massage involving any kind of nerve pain
• In a salve with calendula and chickweed for hot, infected eczema
• With meadowsweet for anti-inflammatory pain such as arthritis
• With agrimony for pain involving constriction
• As a cream with marshmallow, calendula and aloe vera to prevent diabetic foot problems

The second product I made was a tincture but macerating the flowers in vodka for three weeks in a dark place. The red colouration begins to leach out after several hours.

The tincture had me in a quandary. I don’t like to give herbs to anyone with a serious mental health problem, especially if they are under the care of professionals and may be taking other psychotropic drugs. St John’s Wort has a tendency to exacerbate the side effects of any other medication, which is not something to be recommended.

St John’s Wort is also one of the few drugs to have been extensively “researched”, although the trials are rarely with the whole plant, only with those aspects which have been extracted and standardised. Hence the long list of contra-indications and warnings which the press are so pleased to report. If you do want to educate yourself about these reports, there are lots of references in medical journals.

Like the SSRI drugs, St John’s Wort doesn’t act immediately. You need to build up a concentration in the body before you start to notice changes. Henriette Kress described it, “You won’t notice any difference when you take it but the people around you will notice you are different.”

It was Henriette who gave me the confidence to start adding St John’s Wort to my bereavement tonics. All the herbs are nerviness and help to support the adrenal gland during times of stress. I use SJW with lemon balm, vervain and nettles in the early stages of bereavement and may continue to add it to the mix or leave it out in favour of oats and/or motherwort, depending on the person. I also give people skullcap or rose elixir in separate bottles to take as and when the screaming habdabs descend.

David Winston also reported success with a mixture of SJW and lemon balm for seasonal affective disorder (SAD). This could be easily combined using tinctures but I have also made a syrup with extra lemons which proved far too delicious to be a medicine!

After several years of making oils and tinctures, I began to dry the herb for teas. A former apprentice reported great success in removing the pain of diabetic foot neuropathy in Asian elders by administering the tea as a footbath. This could also be used with any hand problems.   

My next experiment was with honey. SJW flowers in honey produces a pink honey with the characteristic SJW smell. You could use this in any drink as an added medicine to a herbal infusion. I’m now waiting for the evening primrose and bergamot to flower to make a “burns honey” together with apothecary’s rose petals. Having just treated a nasty burn on my leg, I want to be sure I’ve got a specific honey available just in case.

Every year I give away dozens of self seeded SJW plants. I believe every herb lover needs an SJW patch in their garden. I know I would be lost without mine.

I'll finish with a meditation I undertook recently with St John's Wort. This is what he said.

I am the sun and stars
I am strong
I travel along unseen pathways
I hide my scent
You will only know it if you work with me.
The more you work with me the less you will understand me
I comfort the vulnerable
Do not think to offer me on my own
I am not here to work your miracles
You will not notice how I change you until the change is past
Offer me humbly to your elders
On your knees let them bathe their feet in my waters
I will take away their pain, soothe the burning
I am strong

Trust me

The joys of harvest

After complaining about the lack of time to wildcraft in my last posting, the plants have had the last laugh. Everywhere I look something is either blooming or making its green profusion known for gathering before the flowers bloom.

Harvest began in earnest on 17 June when I wandered around the Priory field picking elderflowers to make into elderflower cordial for the workshop at the farm on June 19th. The recipe can be found here.

Cotswold nettles gathered during my visit on 15 May for tincture and vinegar while Chris was flying kites at the Bidford on Avon Steam Faire, were ready to cut again to make a cold water maceration for workshop participants to drink. I suspect I covered the nettles and a few sprigs of red clover with a little too much water as the resulting infusion was lighter than last year although it did deepen in colour as I reached the bottom of the bowl.

During the workshop we gathered catmint, white horehound, white hyssop, lemon balm and sage which are drying laid out on the sofa of the Sanctuary summerhouse. After everyone left, I picked some beautiful yarrow which was flowering next to the greenhouse.

The plants outside the glass were bright pink while those inside were the usual white of the wild plant. I have no idea what makes the flower change colour. I know the plants are both wild, because they transported themselves to that spot and my parents have never grown cultivars in the garden. I can only think it is something to do with nutrients in the soil. The flowers of farm marjoram is deep pink, almost crimson, while the majoram in my garden on acid, clay soil is always very pale pink.

On the Sunday afternoon, before I left for home, my father helped me pick elderflowers and red clover from the field by the bungalow and I plucked a small handful of dog rose petals – just to feel that I hadn't totally missed out on their beauty. Their scent was glorious!

Once home, the elderflowers were transformed into an elderflower water and a new citrus tincture with the remainder of the harvest were put to dry. The dogrose petals made a new elixir and roses from the garden were added to the garden rose elixir, which has a definite rose scented “kick”.

I used the red clover blossoms which my parents had so carefully picked to make an elixir and tincture and put the whole aerial parts on the table in my garden summerhouse to dry for tea.

The star of all this profusion has to be St John's wort. The first two flowers appeared on midsummer's day and I've picked a bowlful of flowers most days since then. Two full 2lb jars of oil are infusing on the kitchen window sill, two similar jars of tincture sit in the larder - the first one has already turned an amazing shade of red! - and a small jar of honey is infusing next to the oil. I can't remember harevsting so much St John's wort in so little time any other year!

Sean Donohoe inspired me in his article on restoration following heat stroke to make some Lemon balm elixir last weekend . It was one of our hottest days and I spent most of the time sitting in the shade under the apple tree. I've already gathered enough for two jars of tincture and Sunday's harvest was enough for both the elixir and a further jar of tincture.

I can thoroughly recommend a soothing cup of yarrow, plantain, lemon juice and St John's wort honey tea. I made one for myself using leaves growing in between our patio flagstones following a visit to the dentist for a large filling last Friday. As I get older, I find such visits more and more traumatising and normally I am laid out for the rest of the night once the anaesthetic wears off. Maybe it was the skill of my new dentist, but I had absolutely no pain or suffering at all! I think my herbal tea helped too!

So, what are the rest of you out there in the herbal world doing with your herbs at the moment? Are the plants flowering earlier or later than usual? Are they more or less prolific or do you feel the season is moving as it should?

Celebrating the solstice with St John’s wort

Although both dates for the summer solstice (21^st June) and midsummer (24^th June) are passed, it feels appropriate to mark them with a posting about St John’s wort. This herb has a special meaning for me. When I first started growing SJW, the flowers always opened a week after the solstice, but two years ago they moved a week forward and the first bloom opened on 21^st June. I was sure this year they were going to come beforehand, but they didn't, they waited!

I have been growing SJW for at least twelve years. It was one of the first specialist herbs I bought to grow in my garden. I couldn’t believe anything so delicate could provide such strong and helpful medicine, but it does!

Each spring I cut down the dead stalks of the plant and watch with bated breath as the tiny fronds emerge from the soil. This year it was March when I took the first photo. By the beginning of May the stalks were about four inches high and now they wave delicately around from a height of about two feet.

The tiny flowers are perfect stars – so perfect and bright it is almost impossible to get a picture in focus! Each year I make a sun infused oil and tincture. If there is profusion, or I find a bonus harvest elsewhere as I did last year at Birmingham International Railway station car park, then I might make a SAD syrup and dry some for ritual use.

SJW is thought to be a cleansing herb which repels negativity. It can be used in the bath for purification. It can also be used in rites of purification and exorcism.

Most people know SJW as a nervine, helpful in mild to moderate depression. They forget or are unaware of its other properties as an anti-viral, healer of burns and general external “heal all”. I won’t go into its constituents as that is something for others to comment on. I’m just interested in its uses.

I’m fortunate in that I don’t suffer with depression. There are times when I’m sad or emotionally upset, but I tend to turn to other nerviness – lemon balm, skullcap and vervain – before using SJW tincture for myself. I don’t think I’ve ever tried SJW tea – maybe I should add fresh SJW tea to my list of “new things to try” this year and see how it makes me feel!

Henriette recommends SJW for the pain and depression of grief, when everyone needs extra comfort and support through difficult times.

My dearest love of SJW is the oil. It is perhaps the greatest wonder of the herbal world to cover yellow star flowers in yellow sunflower oil, place it in a sunny window and watch as the oil begins to darken and finally turns a deep and glorious red. It has a very distinct smell entirely its own. There is no need for other perfume when you make the salve.

I use the oil in virtually every salve I make. I use it alone to deal with the itching and ache of venous degeneration in my ankles or to spread on burns after the heat has been taken out, with marshmallow as a diabetic foot salve, with calendula and marshmallow as a general winter salve, with calendula and chickweed for infected eczema, with elderflower to moisturise my face, with calendula, marshmallow and lovage in my “ladies’ lubrication salve” and with rosemary to make a massage oil for sciatica or arthritic joint pain.

I’ve also made a sunburn soother by adding SJW, calendula and aloe vera gel from the inside of freshly cut leaves to an aqueous cream base. I took it on holiday to Cornwall in our caravan fridge one year and gave it to a neighbour on the campsite who was badly burned on her back, arms and shoulders. After one application left overnight, the burn was soothed.

To make a salve, use 1oz of grated beeswax to every 8oz of infused oil. Heat gently in a double boiler saucepan until the wax has melted, then pour into clean pots. Label and date. Store in a cool dark place and the salve should last unopened for at least two years.

Here is the recipe for the SAD (Seasonal Affected Disorder) Syrup based on David Winston’s teaching using lemon balm with SJW for SAD. The recipe for a syrup comes from Non Shaw and Christopher Hedley's book, "Herbal Remedies"

1 l (2 pints) water (remember these are European pints (20 fluid oz) not US pints)
40 g (1 1/2 oz) dried herb or 100g (4oz) fresh chopped herb
450 g (1 lb) sugar
Put herb in water, bring to a boil, let simmer 20-30 minutes, strain. Clean out pan, pour liquid back into it, let sit on minimum heat until you only have 2 dl (7fl.oz.) left Add sugar, simmer until sugar has dissolved, pour into jars, label.

For SAD syrup I use equal quantities of dried St John's wort and lemon balm which I ground up in a coffee grinder if the herbs are dry, otherwise I bruise or shred the fresh herbs. I use aerial parts of both plants. Normally I only use the flowers of SJW to make oil and tincture, but I often make the syrup when the plants have gone to seed, so I use seed heads, flowers and some of the stalk.

Remember lemon balm only has a shelf life of 6months when dry, so if you buy some from a supplier, ask when it was picked. You should also pick the leaves before they flower, but if most of my plants have flowered when I make syrup, I try to pick as many secondary shoots as I can (shoots which grow up from stems cut earlier in the year).

Before the herbs simmer in the water, I add the grated rind of a lemon and when the syrup is finished, I add the juice of a lemon so it isn’t too sickly. I add lemon or orange juice to a lot of my syrups and use them more as hot cordials than taking 1 tsp at a time.

The dosage for SAD syrup would be around 1tsp three times a day. Don't use this syrup if you are already taking SSRI drugs for depression or if you've had a bad reaction to SJW in the past. Some people who take medication for migraine conditions find it can bring on a migraine.

The difficulty with this syrup is that it tastes so good, it could be quickly used up, so take care and don't take too much at once! As with all medicines, make sure children can't go and help themselves or you will suddenly find the bottle is empty!

Tasting the Garden

Chris was away painting the caravan last night, so I walked home from the station in glorious sunshine and was able to go out into the garden to survey what might be around to make up the accompanying salad for my macaroni cheese.

Dandelions were everywhere, many with golden flowers fully open to embrace the sunshine. I was looking at one of Susun Weed's site's recently where she talked about eating the flowers as well as the leaves, so I picked several to see what they might contribute.

The sorrel was also growing in great profusion with far less half eaten leaves than normal, so I picked a handful of those as well. Behind the well cropped Mexican orange tree was a mass of new violet leaves. Every time I've looked at them since December, the leaves have been eaten and sparse, even when the violet flowers were blooming, but now, since the flowers have gone over, it seems the plants have put all their energy into growing new leaves! There has been a lot of discussion about violet leaves on the Herbwifery Forum with many contributors mentioning that they used the leaves in salads or to make tea. They have all commented on how mucilagenous the leaves are, which I couldn't quite get my head around since they look exactly the same as most leaves which are definitely not mucilagenous.

I've only ever made infused oil with the leaves and have never been tempted to eat them, but this time I thought I would take the plunge. I picked a leaf and chewed it. It was a total revelation! There was little actual flavour, but it wasn't unpleasant and as I chewed it, I could feel the strands of mucilage developing in my mouth. Now I know what everyone else was talking about! I felt like dancing around the garden shouting "I know what mucilagenous means!" Of course, I didn't - I'm far too quiet and reserved for that!

The lemon balm is also growing well, so several shoots were added to the salad mix. It took me a while to find the "Jack by the hedge". The plants were hiding at the back of blackcurrant bush but flowering although they were only about 18 inches high - very small compared with the 3-4 feet they reach in summer. Debs admonished me for pulling them all up when she visited last year, so again, I took the plunge and chewed some leaves. They were amazing - full of flavour with a faint garlic tang to it. The large leaves also went into the salad mix!

A few sprigs of St John's wort and mint completed my gathering. My garden tour showed up how much weeding I still have to do as the creeping buttercup and hedge woundwort have really taken over some patches. It was lovely to see the new pansies still blooming everywhere and the new stocks are also beginning to flower. The new leaves of the goldenseal are beginning to unfurl and the black cohosh has uncurled its leaves. Maybe on Sunday it will be dry enough to get out and attach things with a fork!

Later on, I made up some new tincture concoctions for myself and Chris, since both our bottles were empty. Mine has a mixture of hawthorn flower, nettle, burdock, vervain, cleavers and dandelion root with a couple of teaspoons of rue and horsechestnut seed. Chris' is more straightforward - hawthorn flower, nettle root and a touch of dandelion root. We take a small dose at breakfast in orange juice to accompany our porridge.