Bee’s Wax Solstice Ornaments

by Marci Tsohonis
Originally published in the Nov/Dec '17 issue of The Essential Herbal

I have a tradition of making Winter Solstice ornaments for our tree and for gifting, because they are hard to find in gift shops or online.  In years past, I have made clay, quilted, embroidered and felted wool ornaments.   I am making solar ornaments with Bee’s wax this year. 

Do you have Brown Bag clay cookie molds in the back of a drawer somewhere?   

You know, the ones you saved for making that cool homemade paper-craft project you have always meant to try?   I did!  Wax ornaments are my favorite way to use them now.  Some of the molds are too large for ornaments, but others are just perfect.  If you don’t have any, you can sometimes find them on the cheap at Antique stores.  I have acquired several that way.

I want to make a rubber mold of our Sol doorbell because it is the perfect size for a tree ornament. 

 

I could not locate any rubber mold making kits in our town, only acrylic clay mold material.  It didn’t hold the pressed image well, or, I didn’t do it correctly.  It lost some details when the clay relaxed.  I have since learned Amazon has the rubber mold material, but I couldn’t get it delivered in time to use it for this article. 

To make wax ornaments in the clay cookie molds, first spray 2-3 clean molds lightly with vegetable spray.  Arrange the molds on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or wax paper so you can reclaim any spilled wax.  Melt about 1 to 1½ cups of bee’s wax to 60 degrees in a wax-melting pitcher (or other small, metal container) in a saucepan with 2 inches of simmering water.   The metal container will allow the wax to stay fluid long enough to pour it into a few molds.  Using a ladle will not work well.  The edges cool so quickly that any pouring irregularities will be highly visible. 

Add one half teaspoon of Cassia essential oil to melted wax after it has cooled to 50 degrees.  Pour into cavities immediately, slightly under-filling each mold.  Tap the edge of the mold on the counter and release over a soft towel after they have cooled an hour or two.  Most will pop out of the cookie molds very easily.  If they don’t, refrigerate them for about 20 minutes and try again. 

To create a smooth hole for ribbon or string, heat the end of an ice pick or narrow paring knife over a stove burner or candle.  Press lightly, and the hot metal will easily pierce through the wax to create a smooth hole in the ornament.  If the edges are rough or irregular, heat the flat side of a butter knife and quickly smooth it over those areas of the ornament.  

 

 Happy holidays! 

2019 Winter Holiday Specials and Gift Ideas

 

We have just a couple of "deals" that are valid through the end of the year.
#1 - all back issues are Buy 2, Get 1 FREE.  This is an automatic discount, and no code is necessary.
#2 - All purchases (US only) over $100 will be shipped FREE.
#3 - All boxed orders will get FREE gift, and I'll be trying to slip a little something in with envelopes of books, etc.

There are some interesting new things on the site.
We got in 10 or 12 new lightweight earring styles.  Beautiful and reasonably priced.

They're all light as a feather.

We got three different options for doing some for making Sun Prints.  Packages of treated 8 x 8 inch cotton patches, notecard kits, and tshirts.  Let your creativity go!

This is my first attempt, playing around with it the other day.  Yours would be much better, I'm sure.

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Books that will inspire and delight

A very popular gift is the complete 10 Years of Herbal Knowledge in 3 volumes.  Someday we'll try to put together the third 5 years, but for now, this is really a spectacular compilation.

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Fire cider t-shirts are also welcome, as well as soaps, teas, and remedies.

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Come take the website for a spin and you'll find gifts and stocking stuffers for everyone.

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Rather than linking directly to each product, just come over to essentialherbal.com and look around.  There's a lot more than you see here.

Adventures with Shingles

As is often the case, we managed to slip a week of something intense into the schedule, with almost no visible disruption.  My sister stepped right up to the plate and covered for me on the magazine while also running her soap business and some other less pleasant responsibilities.  I know that I am extremely lucky to be able to just relax.  That is rare.  I want to share how many different modalities were used together.  In my mind, there is a place for all manner of healing, and they can help each other work better. 

One day a couple of weeks ago, I was working on the index for 2018 magazines (still need to work on that!), and felt as if I'd pulled a muscle around the right, rear rib cage.  Probably slouching in the desk chair.  It didn't go away, and by the third night it hurt so badly that I couldn't sleep.  Middle of the night Google had me on the phone first thing the next morning, sure that we were dealing with a ruptured gallbladder.  That may sound alarmist, but I've (just barely) survived a ruptured organ in the past, and the pain was similar.

The skin was becoming very tender along that side, but it was probably from my touching it, right? 

We get to the doctor, who does NOT mock me (much) for Googling in the middle of the night.  She asks how long I've had this rash.  WHAT??? 3 tiny little pinheads.  Not even blistered yet.
Once again, I am very fortunate.  It is very early in the course of this outbreak, meaning that anti-viral medication will help shorten the duration and severity.  I shudder to think how bad it could have been.  She sends me on my way with a prescription for Valtrex and for 5% lidocaine patches with instructions to use tylenol as needed.  The   patches are denied by my insurance, so the pharmacist suggests Aspercreme 4% patches.  Later insurance allowed the 5%, and that 1% made a huge difference.  Still, the Aspercreme patches were better than nothing.

When I got home, I posted on social media about it.  My friends didn't let me down.  I'd already planned to get Ravensara essential oil blended in Calophyllum from Nature's Gift, and Marge mentioned that it could be overnighted.  I foolishly passed on that, and wound up waiting a few days.
In the meantime I put some lemon balm hydrosol in a spray bottle, and mixed St John's wort and Lemon Balm tincture in a dropper bottle.  They were all very helpful.  Sometimes just spraying the lemon balm hydrosol stopped the pain briefly.  Maryanne bottled up some SJW infused oil for me.

Several people mentioned Vitamin B-12 and L-Lysine.  These both make perfect sense.  A couple people recommended an antihistamine for sleep.  Ah sleep, you elusive tease!

Sleep was the hardest thing.  I tried breathing exercises as well as Reiki, with moderate success, but it didn't allow sleep.  My rash was around my waist on one side, spine to navel.  It was impossible to get comfortable.  The same was true during the day, but night time brought a sense of eternal dread.  The doctor prescribed Gabapentin at a low dose.  It made me sleep, but first I had to spend a couple of hours retching. 
NOTE:  The first night, I'd also tried everything at once.  Everything.  At once.  That meant that I didn't know what caused the retching.  The next night I found out it was indeed the gabapentin, so no more of that.  She then prescribed a low dose of elavil.  That worked perfectly.  Don't try everything at one time.

Slowly but surely, the rash receded.  It never got oozy or scabby.  I believe that probably has a lot to do with the anti-viral medication, but the topicals were probably very valuable too.  10 days in, I'm only using a patch and an elavil at night, and that's probably only because of a fear of pain, more than the reality. 

I hope this helps someone.  As miserable as you might think this ailment is, it's much worse.  I hesitated to write this up because I know many purists who shun OTC and pharmaceuticals.  That's fine.  Generally speaking, I always reach for herbal and energetic medicines first, but there are times when we need to combine everything in the arsenol. 

November December 2018 Issue, The Essential Herbal Magazine

The new issue is out.  Lots of great ideas for holiday gifting and entertaining, as well as winter wellness and herbal information.

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Cover art by Laura McCarley.  See more: www.etsy.com/shop/JLMcArt

Table of Contents

Field Notes from the Editor, Tina Sams
Some rough seas in the herb world, but we can always count on the plants to show the way.
Oh, and keep an eye out for my next book!  

Celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas, 
Marcy Lautanen-Raleigh
Some ideas for enjoying the holidays with family, and a couple of recipes too.              

Advent Wreath, Susanna Reppert/Brill
Herbs add their meanings to the Advent wreath.                                                            

The Lost Gardens of Heligan, Rebekah Bailey
Travel along to the Tremayne Estate in Cornwall, England and learn the fascinating history of
these gardens.       

Glorious Goldenrod, Kristine Brown
Goldenrod is such a generous, loving plant.  Learn how to experience the benefits it has to offer.           

Sesame/Scallion Strudel, Rita Richardson
A lovely, savory treat, perfect for holiday entertaining.                                                  

The Season of Giving, Jenny Flores
Fabulous ideas for putting together gift baskets for loved ones.                                   

Your Fresh Christmas Tree, Maryanne Schwartz
You’ve got it in the house… Now what?                                                                        

Horticulture Therapy, Jackie Johnson
Gardens, working with plants, getting our hands dirty, and all aspects of being around plants is
something we need now more than ever. 

Botanical Nomenclature, Kathy Musser
Did you miss out on Latin classes in school?  Here are some tips to help.                     

Old Favorites, New Favorites, Molly Sams
Learning new plants to love across the continent.                                                          

Distilling Hydrosols, Tina Sams
We’ve been demonstrating the still a lot lately, and had requests for an article to explain how
it works, so I finally wrote it down.   

Sweet & Savory Treats, Marci Tsohonis
As much as I would like to be Marci’s neighbor, I know that it would be a very dangerous thing
for any semblance of “figure.”      

Holiday Herbs, Carol Ann Harlos
A quick primer on some of the herbs we use over the holidays                                      

Meet Our Writers
A new thing – we’re including a page about the writers included in the magazine.            

Hyssop, Sandy Michelsen
A plant with many uses, hyssop is an asset to any garden.  Find out why!

Gather some of those nasturtiums!

Nasturtiums
Tina Sams
Sept/Oct '18 issue The Essential Herbal

First, we’ll clear up some confusion. Watercress is an aquatic plant species with the botanical name Nasturtium officinale.

Nasturtium officinale

We’ve tried growing it in the creek here, but it keeps washing downstream. It looks nothing like the plant we are talking about today, but also has a very peppery taste which is probably the root of the issue.  In fact, in England during the 1600’s, nasturtiums cultivated in the gardens, and called “Indian Cress” due to the similar peppery taste.
Today, we’re talking about Tropaeolum majus, an easy-to-grow annual whose leaves and flowers are edible. 

 

In fact the whole plant is edible, including the seeds!  It comes in a range of colors, from the buttery-est yellow to the most blazing scarlet.  Creamy apricot, and variegated shades of bright orange are among the shades often available, but most often they are deep orange and yellow. 
When we visited the kids in California, nasturtiums were everywhere – wild!  We first spotted them while crossing a little hollow on a foot bridge.  Looking down, the jewel tones shone up at us on what were apparently vining (in a search for light) nasturtiums.  They will grow anywhere, apparently, although for areas that freeze in winter, they are annuals.  They often, but not always, self-seed.  The phrase, “Be nasty to nasturtiums“, is sometimes used for how to care for them.  Give them lousy soil, intermittent moisture, and a little light, and they are happy.

The nasturtium plant is surprisingly useful medicinally.  The leaves, in particular, and especially before the flowers appear!  That’s good, because the flowers make a great garnish, salad ingredient (so do the leaves) or stuff them with guacamole and sit them on a nacho chip!  The whole plant is high in vitamin C, beta carotene and also contains vitamins B1, B2 and B3, as well as iron, calcium, phosphorus and manganese.  There are also an abundance of  carotenoids and flavionoids - compounds that boost the immune system and protect against carcinogens.
Nasturtium combats fungus, infection, viruses, and bacteria. Providing expectorant, and sedative, benefits. In a tincture or vinegar it provides good disinfectant properties.  In Germany, Angocin Anti-Infekt N is a prescribed antibiotic having only nasturtium and horseradish root as ingredients.  Be sure to make some tincture or vinegar this year.  Or, make and freeze some pesto.  Enjoy the many ways we’ve gathered to use them!

Nasturtium Pesto

2 c nasturtium leaves
1/2 c walnuts
4 cloves garlic
3/4 c olive oil
1/2 c freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Blanch the leaves in boiling water for 10 – 15 seconds. Drain and plunge into ice water to cool.  Dry on tea towels.  Place leaves, walnuts, cheese, garlic, and oil in the jar of a blender; blend until smooth. If desired, add a few drops of hot sauce.  Goes great on pasta or baked potato.  Garnish with a flower!
Perhaps a hair rinse: Mix equal parts lavender, nettle, nasturtium and rosemary into double the amount of  water by volume – if you use a cup of herbs total, use 2 cups water. Bring to boil, then turn off the heat and steep in a closed pot for 15 minutes. Allow it to cool and then strain for use. Massage into your scalp before rinsing out. Refrigerate any leftovers.
From some of our friends on the Yahoo! Group:

I make a variety of vinegars and Nasturtium Vinegar is my favorite.  It seems to go with anything.
Gather Nasturtium leaves, pretty well packed, with an occasional blossom, if desired.  Pack into a jar, add white vinegar, cover, and let set in the sun or other bright place for at least 3 weeks.  Then strain and decant into your favorite vinegar cruet.

And a dear memory:  Several years ago a friend came to visit me in the hospital.  She brought me a bouquet of Nasturtiums from her garden.  The scent lingered for a long time and I was even able to bring that scent home.  I'll always remember that incident and my friend's kindness. 
Lou

More than a few years ago, my husband and I stayed in a B & B on the Oregon coast.
When we came in the dining room for breakfast, there was a beautiful nasturtium flower set over the side of our orange juice glasses. Just a very simple thing but it was a highlight of our trip. I still try and do this in the summer when we have orange juice drinks.   Sharon Broderick

Nasturtium Raspberry Salad
Dressing:  1 T. raspberry jam or jelly
           1/4 c  white wine vinegar
           1/3 c olive oil
           salt and pepper to taste
   Whisk jam, vinegar and oil together.  Add salt and pepper, to taste

Salad:   Red and green leaf lettuces
              Thinly sliced red onion
              Fresh raspberries
              Freshly gathered Nasturtium blossoms
   Combine the lettuces, red onion slices, and some raspberries.  Gently toss.  Top with more raspberries and the nasturtium blossoms.  Serve with the dressing on the side.
Note:  Blueberry Jam for the dressing, and fresh blueberries also make a delicious salad!
Mary Ellen Wilcox

Nasturtium Cheese Blend
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup chopped nasturtium flowers
1/4 cup prepared horseradish
Crackers or snack rye bread
In a bowl, beat the cream cheese, nasturtium flowers and horseradish until well blended. Serve with crackers or bread. Yield: 1-1/2 cups.

Egg Salad with Herbs
For a beautiful presentation, serve this on a plate lined with nasturtium leaves, garnished with whole flowers, fresh snipped chives and/or dill sprigs. A fresh loaf of crusty, country-style bread is the best accompaniment; however rye or pumpernickel bread, pitas or thinly sliced bagels are good, too. Makes 6 servings.
 12 hard-cooked eggs
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 teaspoons Dijon-style mustard
2 tablespoons chopped sweet pickles
2 tablespoons sweet pickle juice
1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions or minced onion
1/3 cup finely diced celery
2 tablespoons snipped chives, divided
2 tablespoons snipped dill leaves, divided
1/2  teaspoon sweet paprika
Salt and freshly ground pepper
10 to 12 nasturtium flowers, julienned
10 to 12 nasturtium leaves, julienned
12 large whole nasturtium leaves
6 to 12 whole nasturtium flowers
 Directions
Dice eggs and place in a bowl. Add mayonnaise, mustard, chopped pickles, pickle juice, onions, celery, 1 tablespoon chives, 1 tablespoon dill leaves, paprika, salt and pepper. Toss well to blend. Stir in shredded nasturtium leaves and flowers. Refrigerate 30 minutes before serving.

To serve, let salad stand at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes. Arrange nasturtium leaves on a platter and heap egg salad on top. Garnish with whole nasturtium flowers and remaining chives and dill, and serve immediately.
Marcy Lautanen Raleigh www.backyardpatch.blogspot.com

Herban Legends

Sept/Oct '12 Essential Herbal
by Rita Richardson

Take all these with a grain of salt!

-Thyme, in any form will cure gout,shyness and hangovers.

-A raw onion, eaten one hour before bedtime, will cure insomnia.

-Fennel and dill seeds were chewed by some Colonial church goers to quell the smell of alcohol-these “meeting seeds” also helped keep them awake during long services.

-Tansy was used as an insect repellent; as was pennyroyal and the leaves of lemon verbena.

-Chewing cumin seed prevents gas- take before eating beans of any kind.

-Where rosemary grows, the woman heads the household.

-Plant fennel by the kennel- it keeps the fleas away.

-A sprig of sage in the groom’s pocket  promises fidelity.

-A sprig of lavender in the bride’s bouquet insures devotion.

-In ancient times tables were scrubbed with mint to cleanse, disinfect and polish.

-Chew a sprig of parsley to prevent drunkenness.

-Soak golden raisins in gin; take 7 per day to ward off arthritis.

-A pot of bayleaf on the porch protects against lightning.

-Chew on a tarragon leaf to get rid of hiccups.

-Necklaces of savory were once worn to prevent drowsiness.

-Rinse hair with rosemary water to improve memory.

-Sage tea, with lemon and sugar will cure the common cold.

No one knows if these “old wives’ tales” really work but it can’t hurt to try.

Happy Herbal Harvest!

Hops Ice Cream

Excerpt (How About Hops) from the Sept/Oct 2016 issue The Essential Herbal

Rebekah Bailey www.soapdish.com

I planted my first hops more than 20 years ago.  At the time, I was a young, budding herb enthusiast, not entirely aware of the plant’s place in the herb garden. I planted it for the ignominious reason of covering an old rusty fuel tank sitting right in the middle of the farmyard.  The only thing I knew about it was that it was used in beer.  That was the beginning of a long relationship with the bitter herb.

 

Hops (Humulus Lupulus), a hardy climbing perennial, produces annual bines (yes – bines not vines) reaching up to 25 feet a season.  Each fall the plant dies back to a crown of rhizomes, from which the plant can be propagated.  Hops are dioecious, male and female, the female plant producing the flowers, also referred to as cones.

Hops is a relative newcomer to the world of traditional medicine, Historic references to its medicinal use aren’t found until around the fifteenth century. After that time, we begin to see it referenced for use as a digestive aid, diuretic, cleansing the blood, liver, and spleen.  As history progresses into the nineteenth century, we also see it used as an antibacterial, a tonic for digestion, for inflammation, restlessness, as a sleep aid, and for a whole host of other minor complaints.   

 

From a personal standpoint, I’ve had good results using hops as a mild sleep aid, along with passionflower.  I prefer to use it in tincture form, but many herbalists make dream pillows, stuffing small pillows with hops.

Use a light hand when cooking with hops flowers.  The flavor can be incredibly strong and bitter, so think of it as a spice or a seasoning.  The point is to enhance, but not overpower. Also, the alpha acids in hops flowers are hydrophobic and bond with fat molecules, so the flavor is easier to manage in fats.

Hops Ice Cream

3 cups half and half (or 1 ½ cup cream and 1 ½ cup milk)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

Handful of fresh hop cones

Combine half and half, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a heavy bottomed pan.  Gently heat the mixture over medium, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Heat until mixture thickens slightly, but don’t bring to a full boil.  

The cream mixture pictured took about 30 seconds to \ attain an herbal hoppy flavor without any significant bitterness. The exact time is going to depend on personal preference and the variety of hops being used.

Place hops into the hot mixture to infuse.  This next step is important.  At about 15 or 20 seconds, taste the mixture.  Continue tasting until it reaches the desired flavor, and then immediately remove the hops.  

Cool mixture in refrigerator until 40°F or below.  Churn according to ice cream machine directions.  Ripen ice cream in freezer overnight for best texture.