Great Way to Start the Day - Variation II
If you read last week's blog, you know how amazing the Great Way to Start the Day Variation I , which had stinging nettles, hawthorn berries and sassafras leaves. If you missed it, be sure to go back and read that one first before learning all about variation II of this wonderful infusion.
The Great Way to Start the Day Infusion is a magnificent tea to wake up to after it's steeped overnight. Even after you've decanted it, the tastes and chemical constituents keep blending and settling, and the infusion gets even better as it becomes more fully what it is. The hawthorn and sassafras leaves both add a spirit-enlivening, joyous quality to the nettles' zing and power. Drinking this invites your blood and lymph fluid to flow and circulate freely, with both nettles and hawthorn toning the veins and elasticizing the arteries all the way down to the tiniest blood vessels - the capillaries, a mere hair-width think or less. Bioflavonoid-rich hawthorn strengthens your heart and general immunity, and the moistening, demulcent qualities of sassafras leaf help offset any dryness from astringent, tissue-toning nettles. The taste too is sweet and rich-simply fantastic!
Great Way to Start The Day Infusion - Variation II
1 cup dried stinging nettles
1/2 cup dried red clover
1/2 cup dried oatstraw
Mix all the dried herbs together in a half-gallon jar. Pour boiling water over them, and cap tightly. Leave out to steep on your counter overnight. Squeeze out the plant material completely, and compost the herbs. Store the decanted infusion in the refrigerator and reheat gently on the stove to drink. You can put his in a stainless-steel thermos and drink it all day.
This version is a great blend too. It is a bit more calming and less uplifting than Variation I. Each plant in this blend is a nutritional powerhouse on its own! The oats and red clover add lightness and grace to the brew. Red clover brings a substantial amount of usable protein to the mix, and oats stabilized blood sugar and aids digestion. There is an abundance of vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, and amino acids in this recipe. Either of these infusions, with a good hearty breakfast (much more than an apple a day!) is a great way to start a day.
Nettle is alike green mother's milk and the salty ocean of life. She imparts a green so rich it turns red inside us and becomes blood itself. And in fact, chlorophyll and red blood cells have a nearly identical molecular structure; the only difference is that chlorophyll contains magnesium where hemoglobin has iron. Nettles can help build rich, healthy blood.
It's never too late in your life to start drinking or eating stinging nettle. It restores the integrity of the walls of veins and arteries, and thus helps circulation beautifully. One of my apprentices had years and years of leg pain, but has had none for the past several years thanks to her regular ingestion of nettles infusions. (She's also integrating more stretching into her life. Herbs can't do everything!)
I most often think of nettle leaves and stalks as an everyday healer that I use frequently to build and maintain superb vitality. If nettle is too drying for someone (through its astringency as an excellent diuretic) I will mix it with a demulcent herb appropriate to the person and their needs - perhaps linden, mallow, or violet. As long as their are no contraindication for the use of honey (as in diabetes, for example) I might also mix it with naturally moisturizing honey.
I hope you enjoy making and trying these two wonderful infusions. If you do make them, snap a photo and tag me on Instagram! I'd love to see your infusions.
Sign up for my free newsletter at WiseWomanHealingWays.com. You can find hundreds of healing recipes in, The Gift of Healing Herbs-Plant Medicines and Home Remedies for a Vibrantly Healthy Life and clear guidance on how to connect with Nature and your own true nature in Healing Magic, A Green Witch Guidebook to Conscious Living-10th Anniversary edition. My meditation CD's are available through CD Baby.