Harvesting weeds for fall health

I never used to like autumn.  I’ve always been more of a spring girl. Watching the world come alive, and singing with the energy of the earth… I’m in my glory! Lately though, I’m learning how beneficial reaping the harvest can be, both physically and spiritually.  Whether I’m watching the October rains turn our August-faded lawns green again, walking a mountain path, or sitting on the beach in my hoodie, debating a swim, there’s so much life waiting for us to share in the bounty and I’m learning to sit quietly and reflect in the cooling days and appreciate all I’ve done in the warmer seasons so that I can reap their benefit all winter long.

What grows is often what we need, so I’d like to share some of my favorite fall plants to harvest for body, mind and soul.

Plants whose roots are used in medicine and healing are best harvested in autumn when they have had all summer long to pull up nutrients from the soil.  The ones listed below are good for preventing and healing fall colds, and can be chopped and infused into tinctures or oils for use throughout the winter, or sliced and sautéed or roasted to make your favorite meal a little wild!

 

Burdock

Burdock has been an ally of mine for a long time. Her fuzzy leaves grow in a rosette from the ground and are beneficial for soothing rashes. It’s the root, however, that is a powerhouse of nutrients and medicine.  I often use her to stimulate a sluggish digestive system but she’s also an antiviral.  That’s pretty amazing because there’s not much in the realm of traditional medicine that acts quite the same way.  No matter what illness is knocking at your door, a tincture of burdock is a great way to meet it.  Don’t forget to combine it with echinacea, elderberries, or another immune-boosting herb as well.

Spiritually, burdock great for grounding and helping us connect with the earth and the world around us.




Dandelion



Dandelions in the Spring
Photo courtesy of Identify That Plant

Yes, dandelion.  I can’t get enough of this awesome plant.  You can eat all parts of her, from flower, to seed, stem, leaf and root. You may even find dandelion is starting to bloom again now that the weather is turning cooler. Dig up the entire plant and dry, or chop and tincture her whole. You can even roast the roots, and dry the leaves in a 250 degree oven with some salt and oil to make crispy dandelion chips. The roots are perfect now--large and full of nutrients. Dandelion moves lymph, stimulates digestion, and the liver. I almost always include her in a cold or flu battling regimen.  

Spiritually, she is our inner warrior, and offers a healthy dose of sunny strength to ward off or rise above winter colds or blues.

Mullein photo courtesy of Squat the planet

Mullein

I’m always battling dry congestion.. Stuffy noses, head colds… sticky, stuck and dry, dry, dry… that’s how I feel when I’m sick.This is why mullein is my friend.  

Traditionally known to alleviate allergies and support the lungs, I use a tincture of mullein leaves when I am congested--regardless of the cause (and sometimes it is hard to tell if the cause is a cold virus or allergies and with mullein, it doesn’t matter).  She brings so much moisture into the body that I’m almost instantly soothed.  Post nasal gunk begins moving, and cools the heat of the uncomfortableness.

She’s also a great ally for those who suffer from indoor allergies in the winter.  I keep some on hand for friends with pet allergies who come to visit.  Whether as a tincture or a tea, she provides immediate relief.  

Now is a good time to harvest first year plants. Mullein is a biennial, so second year plants have already gone to seed.  First year plants, however, have a nice rosette of large, fluffy leaves.  If you’re going to harvest the entire plant, may as well dig her up from the root and include the root in your tincture or oil as well.

Goldenrod

Goldenrod photo courtesy of Garden Compass

Goldenrod sings of sunny days of summertime yet she is a fall plant, and one with a bad rap.  So many people blame goldenrod for their seasonal allergies, but my teacher, and author of “The Gift of Healing Herbs,” Robin Rose Bennett, says that the culprit is usually ragweed, which blooms at the same time.

I’ve watched Robin offer a student whose nose and eyes wouldn’t stop running some goldenrod to nibble during a fall hike.  Her symptoms were almost immediately alleviated!

I use goldenrod as soon as I start to feel the fall allergies kicking in (although in truth, we should be using them prior to the season to prevent allergies). I make oils and tinctures from her sunny blooms, and both smell and taste vaguely (and blissfully, in my opinion) of olives.

Know that the world is still alive and fruitful, and we can be as well. Spiritually, fall flowers remind me not to give up, and to give myself completely to the fine weather while it lasts, so I will be sustained through the winter--these cold and flu battling plants prepare our physical bodies the same way.

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The Alchemist - Making magic out of the mundane

When what you harvest isn't what you worked toward

Whether it’s working toward a new career, a new relationship, or a new goal of personal growth, sometimes when you want something and you work to make it happen, it manifests in its own time, not in yours. When it does appear, and it is time to reap what you have sown, it either: no longer fits; is not at all what you thought you wanted; doesn't feel the way you thought it should; or it never comes at all.

If it no longer fits, that is usually a moment of "yay, you!" It often means that you have evolved to another level mid-way through the manifestation process, that there were some "Ah-ha!" moments followed by an internal shift that caused a redirection of your personal ship. That's wonderful news.

The internal work that would go with this outcome is to go back inside and think about what has changed for you the six to 12 months or since you started the manifestation work. What is different about your viewpoint regarding what you wanted? Think about what changed the end goal for you. Where was that therapeutic moment, and what were the details around it? Answering these questions will often give you a solid redirection on your goals for the near future.

A woman I took care of some years ago had come to me for intestinal issues. Over years in my practice, I’ve found that dis-ease in the small intestines usually relates to feeling lost, left behind and abandoned. Since all of her friends were married and starting families, and she was the only single woman in her group, this emotional theme rang very true for her. While I treated the physical, we started to also address the emotional. She really felt it was time to find a man, settle down and be married. This was her goal, but her ideas of what she wanted in a partner were a bit nebulous; she wasn't clear on the details of what she was looking for, only that she was ready for him right now. Because she wasn't clear, she had been dating men who also weren't clear. They were sort of in the relationship, but kind of not really. One said he wanted to get married but, you know, maybe someday… As her intestinal function started improving, we also began to carefully outline what she really wanted for the long term, bearing in mind that if she wanted to marry someone, these traits had to go the distance, so to speak. She made her outline, did her homework, and was engaged within the year, happily married within a year and a half. And with great digestive function, I might add.

The next scenario is one we have all seen so often: you want something so badly, you work hard  to make it happen, and then when you get there, it has a certain kind of bad-plastic-like feel to it. Perhaps on paper, it was a great achievement; perhaps society gives its full approval to this goal. (there's a red flag right there, spiritually speaking, to take a closer look at your motives....) For these situations, the teaching moment comes after the fact, at the finish line or shortly afterward. There can be a sense of sadness and almost loss that you did indeed climb your mountain but once at the top, looked around to say..."meh"...

For these instances, we need to process the fact that the goal didn't feel like it "should" have. Why is that? What is missing? Here, the "should" factor is enormous. I have often seen this situation manifest around money and loneliness, two very big subjects that society has much judgment about. I have lost count of how many lawyers I have met who work only to indulge their need to write, or leave the field entirely to become a restaurateur, or open a yoga studio. Anything not to be a lawyer anymore. For those that fall into this category, the work is about helping them to redefine their next step. There are also those that feel locked into their situations in life because they don't want to lose the corresponding status and/or lifestyle.  

There is one more instance of the harvest being not what you wanted: when the harvest doesn't come at all. You really worked: you cleared, you prepared, you planted, you nurtured, you focused, you aligned. Nothing. This can be one of the more critical life lessons for garnering trust and patience, through the experience of being utterly out of control of events.  Time, in this instance, is still your friend although one must come to peace with the fact that, for whatever reason, you are not meant to have what you want right now. This is the moment where you learn to exercise patience.  The information will, I guarantee you, come and inspire you to give thanks for unanswered prayers.

Once mastered, once you’re able to sit in that uncomfortable silence, in a place of acceptance for the present moment, a situation has greater life lessons than the others discussed.   To exist in this space is to understand a depth of poetry and finesse about the course of life that makes us more successful as human beings, more graceful, and less at the mercy of the ego’s wants  constantly marching through all of our minds, at all times.

As always, I do hope that my thoughts and opinions are helpful for you, so that when you go forth and manifest, whatever the outcome, you are fully equipped to manage it successfully.

Lots of love to you....

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Lisa M Avila

Notes from the Apothecary - Bridging the Disconnect

July issue--Healing with Nature

Nature is a force of... well, nature. There is something refreshing about being caught in the rain, and we are exhilarated or frightened by fierce winds. We feel warmed and blissful on a warm summer day. 

Spring rejuvenates us, autumn inspires and fills us with her bounty, and in winter we take that bounty and hibernate.

People have learned the benefit of eating seasonal foods, and when we align our daily patterns with the seasons we discover healing of another kind. 

But nature heals in other ways. The Tree Whisperers at Cooperative BioBalance teach that we are part of the ecosystem in which we live, and that by healing it, we heal ourselves. Artists have long known the benefit of painting outdoors, and there are reasons so many runners prefer the open road to treadmills. 

Nature's gifts are non-discriminatory.  What we give Mamma Earth, she returns to us tenfold.  We can heal our body and our soul by eating seasonally, eating locally, and eating organically, but we can also heal the ecosystems in which we live by eating responsibly.
 
In this month's issue, we will consider the ways that nature has taught us to live differently, and recognize those lessons as healing.

Natural Medicine - A short story

She ran from the house, her skin cold against the balmy summer air. It could have been late afternoon, the full weight of sun and humidity pressing down against her, and it wouldn’t have mattered.  Nothing could warm her now. 

Her hurried steps brought her to the small patch of woods not far from the apartment. Gnarled limbs, heavy with Spanish Moss, provided sanctuary as she wove her way around the trees. Most of her friends were leery of this place, leery of the creatures that called this swampy spot home. She was far more concerned with the human creatures she left behind her, specifically the so-called friend that climbed on top of her while she was passed out. She woke up to find his hands roaming all over her, his lips pleading with her to just let him. Ultimately, nothing had happened. He accepted her no… eventually. She found it no less disturbing, though. The second he had rolled over and passed out, she bolted from the place.  

Her stomach soured with every step as she considered how much worse it could have been. She shouldn’t have drank so heavily the night before.  She should have gone home and passed out in her own bed. These were the course of her thoughts as she found her way to the little stream. Heavily, she sat down at its banks and watched the clear water as it flowed over copper-toned rocks and away, far away, from where she sat. In spite of herself, her mind relaxed. She just watched the water, enjoying the way the surface bubbled over the rocks, flashing with specks of sunlight as it eased around the obstruction in its path.

Suddenly, she knew. She knew that this moment was like the rocks, stationary. Her life was like the water, flowing over, around, and past it, leaving it far behind her. She inhaled the sweet, musty fragrance of soggy earth, then stood. She smoothed the leaves and debris from her clothes, then began to make her way home.

 

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Medussa's Myths - telling the stories of life