Herbal Tidbit: Evening Primrose for Wounds, Stings and Bites

Much of the ethnobotanical reports about Evening Primrose have to do with it's purported prowess as a wound healer. Having used it extensively in the last few months, I'm here to tell you that the reports are true! I've used tincture (flower, bud, seedpods, leaf and root) on infected wounds, venomous insect bites and stings and even a few rashes with wonderful results. The redness clears, everything heals up without a fuss and VERY rapidly. It's really quite impressive, and is now up there with Cottonwood, White Sage, Rose, Yarrow and Plantain as my favorite first aid plants for infection, venom, irritation and slow healing.

Next step is to infuse into an oil for salves....

As a side note, these healing properties also seem to work very well internally for GI problems as well, as one would expect of an herb with such an affinity for the digestive system. A lovely plant.

Every (Wo)Man’s Adaptogen: Nettle Seeds & The Adrenals

I’ve always been a bit intrigued by adaptogens (SUCH a trendy word), but the fact that they tend to come from far away lands combined with their often (for me) over-stimulating effects have kept me from using them very much personally. I do occasionally recommend Ashwaganda or Eleuthero root to others, but generally stick with my local allies in my practice. But I’ve been keeping my eye out for local nutritive tonics and adaptogens. It’s fairly unusual to find such a plant in the Gila, most of these plants seem determined to keep us cool, calm and disinfected (I’ve never met so many anti-infective plants in one place before!), we do have Wild Licorice here, but even that tends to run a bit to the bitter, cooling side in this ecosystem. And lately, people have been calling Nettle an adaptogen.

Now, I’ve loved Nettles for a long time and I’ve used her medicine in all sorts of ways, as a nourishing mineral packed infusion, as a vibrant bang of green tincture, as an itch soothing salve, as the worlds best green, as a garden fertilizer and even as an aid to awareness when I’ve obliviously stepped into her midst. Lately, I’ve been focusing a lot on her energy in soup, tincture and infusion form as an aid to my struggling adrenals. Nettles in any form taken internally seem to be an excellent aid in mineralizing the body, boosting energy, regulating blood sugar levels, calming allergies, draining dampness (water retention etc), reinforcing the immune system and even helping heal kidney and bladder problems as well as myriad other uses. What more could one ask for then? And yet, Nettles has even more to offer, much has been reported of late in its ability to treat BPH and severe Kidney dysfunction. Recently, Darcy Williamson wrote of an formula to be used in painful childbirth of two parts Nettle root to one part Nettle seed. She uses a tincture of fresh root and fresh seed for her preparations.

And yet, there’s more. About a year ago I read Henriette’s wonderful blogpost on using Nettle seed as an adrenal adaptogen, and then I saw Jim McDonald’s piece on using Nettle seed tincture for stress, and I thought to myself. “I NEED some of that stuff” so I’ve been pacing around waiting for the Nettles to come into seed this season. And here they are! About two weeks ago I went and gathered a handful of fresh nettle seeds, I carefully rolled them around and separated them from the the other plant bits (and hopefully broke all the stinging bits) and ate a pinch. I felt rather like I’d ingested some high quality amphetamines, heart racing a bit, a strange zooming sound in my ears and an overall semi-jittery “high” feeling. Nice, if you’re into that kind of thing but not what I hand in mind. Ryan Drum reports that a decoction made of the fresh green seeds taken to excess can cause one to experience days and nights of wide awakeness. I believe it :D

Then, Rebecca Hartman pointed out to me that perhaps there’s a difference between green and dried seed since she’d never felt overtly stimulated by her Nettle seeds. So hmmm, I spread my Nettle seeds out and waited for them to dry. Then I tried a pinch of nice dried seed, tasty. And no zooming sound! Instead, I felt rather rejuvenated, like I’d had several extra nights of good, deep sleep, and miracle of miracles I no longer nearly pass out every time I stand up from bending over or sitting down (incredibly inconvenient for gardening or wildcrafting, one second you’re happily plucking flowering Skullcap tops, you straighten up to check out an eagle overhead and the next minute you’re on your face in the dirt, ugh) like I have for oh, the last ten years. One pinch of Nettle seeds lasts me for about four to five hours I think, and banishes that buzzy, overheated, exhausted feeling I’ve been living with for so long (no matter how much sleep), as well as really really helping the insane carb cravings I’m prone to (being allergic to gluten and not eating many sweet things, this can be a problem). I haven’t yet had the chance to experience the effects over a long period of time, but I expect (in the way of Nettle) them to be nutritive and to build adrenal strength over time.

I’m not sure if I’ve ever taken any herb or food that gave me energy without worsening my chronic shakiness or heart palpitations (my name is Kiva, and I’m an adrenalholic, heh), so I was very impressed to find this quality in Nettle seed. It’s not replacement for proper nutrition, lifestyle changes and such but it’s certainly an amazing adjunct to these treatments. It doesn’t seem like a good idea to take with significant amounts of caffeine, but I haven’t tried it.

Other herbalists seem to use more towards a teaspoon of dried seed as a dose but a pinch does me very well. I’m excited to tincture the seed as well as making a honey paste/pills (a la Henriette) for further versatility. I can totally imagine a really lovely Nettle seed honey paste made with a wee bit of bee pollen, a smidge of cinnamon and a sprinkle of powdered Elderberries and Rosehips for an overall daily tonic, yummmm.…. One could add a bit powdered Cacao, unrefined Coconut oil and homemade Hazelnut butter for special occasions. Nettle seed truffles anyone? Coming right up ;)

Something I have done that’s just lovely is ground dried Nettle seeds, blended with ground Kelp, Sesame seeds, Coriander, Cumin and a bit of Sea Salt: the best seasoning ever!

Oh, and that very lovely picture to the left is the birthday portrait Loba did of me that I promised to post! And to think, before I introduced her to watercolors, she claimed she couldn't paint!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today I turned 27! To celebrate, Loba, Rhiannon and our intern, Kyra, climbed the arroyo to seek out the (hopefully) ripe Gooseberries. Much to our delight, about thirty percent of the Gooseberries were indeed ripe. So into the brambles we went to gather the tart black berries, between the four of us we managed to gather a couple pints. In the process, we also managed to get plenty scratched up and very hungry.

We wandered a bit further up the wash to find a shady spot to eat our wild salmon & egg salad, blueberry pudding and apples. There's something very magical and special about sitting on water polished volcanic rock, surrounded by a dozen varieties of butterflies, with stone walls enclosing us like a womb and a bright strip of sky streaking overhead.

Back home, we made Gooseberry-Pear Pie with an Almond Coconut Crust and Pear-Peach Cream on top to have after a so fulfilling meal of Nettle Stew with Wild Elk meat, Butternut Squash, Coconut Milk and Ginger, mmmmm.

Both Loba and Wolf drew me beautiful portraits as gifts. The one above is by Wolf, I just love it! I'll post the equally beautiful one by Loba sometime soon.

K, back to catching up after a day of fun! A perfect birthday.

Wild Women's Gathering 2007

Here we are! Happy Wild Women getting ready to sing together and howl at the moon. I'm there in the middle with the brown dress, Loba to my right and our apprentice Annie to the left. Our new intern, Kyra, is to the far left in the pretty pink peasant blouse.

All of the women were so special, and this Wild Woman's Gathering is certainly the best I've ever co-lead with Loba and may in fact be the BEST Gathering ever in eight years!






Together we ground cacao, cardamom and chili by hand on an ancient Mogollon metate, we made molé, tamales and special spiced sauces for around-the-fire chocolate delights. And we cried sweet tears of both grief and joy on the warm summer earth as we shared and learned, danced and laughed. We swam like otters in the beaver pond and gathered medicinal plants on the river bank.








Here we are cuddling up, with Rhiannon wrapped around our new student, Jenya's arm. Our youngest Wild Woman at thirteen, Roya is grinding grain on the metate and Loba and I (nearly invisible) are cuddling our dear friend Roxanne, who drove a huge distance and brought us many yummy gifts. In fact, all of the women who came brought delicious treats to contribute to our communal feasts.








And here's lovely Ellen in the red shirt singing beautifully. We all came together and wrote two new songs around the fire, complete with harmonies and four part rounds! The two women on the far right are Sarah and Sandy, both from the Pacific Northwest. Sarah has been coming to the Canyon for at least six years, and brought her beautiful daughter Roya for her first ever WWG! Sandy came to experience the wildness of the Gila and went home with a new sense of connectedness and authentic purpose.