Relishing the Long Days of Summer (without the bugs)
Can you believe it’s September already? The verdant greens and buzzing bees in my garden are hardly giving any hints that we are about to transition into fall. And after 48 days of drought, the deluge of rain today is a welcome respite from the dry heat.
I love spending time outdoors, and I am so lucky to have my own garden, access to an incredible community garden, forests to hike in, and a neighbor with an outdoor shower I often use (so lucky!).
I truly have missed in-person events these past couple years, so learning and celebrating with you this summer has been all the sweeter. Migrating my profession to a virtual platform has not been the easiest (can I get an amen?) but connecting with budding herbalists around the globe in a deeper way than was never possible before has inspired me to keep seeking those connections, growing my community, and widening the net to catch all who are seeking connection to Mother Earth and all its kin.
It’s been a wonderful and replenishing summer, filled with gardening, kayaking, outdoor showers, conferences, seeing family and friends, and not one but TWO hikes to Surprise Lake with my apprentice circles. Though there were no injuries on our hike, I always come prepared when I head into the forest. Knowing your plant-kin is one of the many joys and benefits of being an earth-loving herbalist.
Plants and trees are waiting to help you fall in love with life on planet Earth, especially essential in difficult times, like now. Herbs help you learn to slow down and listen, to your body, to your heart, and to the life all around you.
As you learn the truth, that you can find what you need most anywhere, it is empowering, and more than that, you find out that you have green sisters and brothers, grandmothers and grandfathers, a huge, loving, family ready to embrace you and offer you healing wherever you are and wherever you go!
When possible, always use fresh ingredients, if they’re available to you. If they aren’t, having a Herbalist-First-Aid-Kit handy will help get you out of a “scrape” 😉 Keep scrolling for whats in mine!
One of my apprentice circles preparing for our journey up the mountain…
The apprentices and me looking out over the beautiful vista…
…and making our way down with a song 🎶
— What an exhilarating view!
Here’s what’s in my First Aid kit:
Store Bought/Pre-packaged Supplies
Rescue remedy flower essence (liquid)
Arnica montana, 30C (pellets)
I usually bring these homeopathic remedies with me when hiking, in case of injury and resulting trauma. The bottles are tiny and easy to carry.
Home-Made
St J's wort sunscreen - small glass bottle with screw top
Yarrow/Rose Geranium Bug Repellent - small glass spray bottle
My favorite Sunscreen Recipe
Fresh Hypericum perforatum (St J's wort)
Olive oil
Do NOT wash the herbs. Fill (almost to the top) a clean, dry jar with finely chopped fresh stalks, leaves, flowers and buds of St J's.
Pour cold-pressed olive oil over them, filling the jar to the very top.
Use a chopstick to poke around and ensure all the herbs are saturated with the oil. Poke some more to get out the air bubbles. Leave no air space and no herbs sticking up out of the oil. Pour over more oil as needed to fill jar fully.
Cap, label and sit atop a saucer to catch oil (that will usually bubble up and over the sealed lid).
Six weeks later, decant by pouring off most of the oil, leaving just a bit, as it will contain the water layer* that has fallen to the bottom of the jar (it will be a different color, making it easier to tell the difference!) Squeeze out your herbs to get all the oil you can, and compost them.
* you can still use this watery layer, just use it up first, and don't add it to the whole bottle as it can cause your oil to mold.
My favorite Insect Repellent Recipe
(Photo from my New Paltz Weed Walk, and no bugs bugging me!)
**This blend also doubles as an antiseptic, because yarrow alone excels in case of bug bite, bee sting or bruise. It will reduce swelling, ease pain, stop bleeding and prevent infection!
Yarrow tincture
Rose geranium tincture
Mix them together ½ and ½ in a glass spray bottle and you're good to go. Bugs don't like it, and you smell great!
You can buy the tinctures or make them yourself. I recommend making them separately for the most versatility of use. (I know a lot more uses for yarrow than for rose geranium!)
