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| Valerian coming out da ground |
So today
we met in our community garden and got to work in the freezing cold bright
sunny morning digging up roots. Its close to the new moon, just gone this last weekend, so a good time to work with roots. This time of year most of the plants have flowers and have gone to seed so all the energy is dropping back down into the earthy roots...
We focused
on 4 plants; Nettle, Marshmallow, Valerian and Elecampane In pairs and three
took turns working with each plant. Observing the differences and similarities
between them.
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| Yellow Rhizomes |
The Nettle
is bright yellow and close to the surface of the earth as you pull on them they
come away easily.
The Elecampane was a lot more stubborn to come away and much
deeper set with hues of burgundy and creamy white, Marshmallow again was
extremely deep set and training along the ground, Kris joked about ‘giving
birth to the root’ as he worked really hard to unearth it. The valerian had us
all sat around the ground playing, teasing its millions of tiny worm-like
rootlets gently away from the soil….
We brought
our bounty home and Kris set to work destroying mybathroom washing and scrubbing
the Elecampane in the bath. The valerian got the kids paddling pool for a
washing, the marshmallow, washed and ready first so Belle got to work chop chop
chopping away. The fibrous roots were quite difficult to process in contrast to
the much crisper and more similar to cutting a carrot marshmallow in fact there
were a lot of similarities to carrots with that one!
I am
writing this pretty ‘out of my head’ as I nibbled on a little bit of the valerian,
not expecting to feel quite this hazy…. straight after chewing it I lost the
power of speech! Nutty whilst you are trying to run a workshop and explain the
medicinal applications of the herbs…. Luckily all the other participants were
also totally valerianed up.
We made
tinctures and prepared root for drying and then sat discussing and making notes
about each plant.
Nettle
Root – The roots of this plant
are really rhizomes travelling across country in a clever fully connected
network. The taste is sweet, astringent
and salty. It dried all our mouths out very quickly! Reminding us of its Mars
like qualities of Heating and Drying, Fire force element. Sweet gives it the
potential for tonifying in deficiency conditions. Astringent allows it to
contain fluids, to stop bleeding and discharge. Its salty taste points to the
ability to soften hardness and dissolve deposits
Stinging nettle root is used for urination problems related to an
enlarged Prostate (benign Prostate hypertrophy).
Marshmallow- We ate a piece each and soon our mouths very extremely mucousy,
coated in a gelatinous type substance, it over ridding qualities cooling and
moistening marshmallow root does contains a lot of mucilage, which is exactly a
gooey gelatinous substance that some plants naturally produce. It acts as a
demulcent, so a soothing film coats all the irritated mucus membranes, thus
reducing pain and inflammation quickly. This is the primary mechanism of
action, although marshmallow root also adds moisture, reduces inflammation and
acts as a mild diuretic. Very useful in a massive variety of differing
conditions.
Elecampane-
As well as this expectorant or bringing phelm up and out
action it is also, anti-tussive (stops coughing), sedative, anti-fungal,
relaxing, warming, and anti-microbial. Elecampane is extremely soothing to
bronchial tube linings and is used as a specific remedy for chronic bronchitis
and bronchial asthma as the root contains these amazing constituents;
helenalin, helenin, and inulin, a phytochemical that coats and soothes
bronchial passages and is an expectorant which helps to reduce chronic bronchitis
secretions.
This wonderful herb is being used to relieve symptoms of
pulmonary tuberculosis and, according to recent research on tuberculosis;
Elecampane’s volatile oils stimulate circulation and the bronchi, bronchioles
and nose.
There is also exciting research showing that Elecampane is
active againsgt MRSA
Valerian - Little bright white wormy
rootlets, really crisp and crunchy to chop. We were all quite drawn to working
and processin this one.
Valerian is used extensively for nervousness, insomnia, and muscle
spasms, including menstrual cramping. Valerian, however, is not a plant well
suited to all people. Rather than relieving nervousness, anxiety, and promoting
restful sleep, valerian can stimulate and increase hyperactivity. Not all of us
even ate a piece but the room suddenly fell silent and everyone became
introspective and sleepy.
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