Pine Needle Tea & info

Great Site; Hopin' it's right;;;;}

http://pineneedletea.com/index.php?p=1_7_Types-of-Teas

Technically teas come from the evergreen tree bush Camellia Sinensis. Any drink not made from this plant is actually considered an herbal tea. Since Pine Needle Tea comes from an evergreen tree I’m not sure how it will be classified, but it will be interesting to see.

Tea is traditionally classified based on the production technique:

White tea: non-wilted and non-oxidized
Green tea: Wilted and non-oxidized
Oolong: Wilted, bruised, and partially oxidized
Black tea: Wilted, crushed, and fully oxidized
Post-fermented tea: Green Tea that has been allowed to ferment/compost

The two teas that we offer are a White Tea and a Green Tea based on production standards.

White Tea: For White Tea the needles are wild harvested while they are brand new shoots. They are then quickly air-dried to seal in the chemical and nutrient values. White Tea maintains the highest level of antioxidants, polyphenols and vitamins for any of the tea types. The White Tea’s flavor is very light and refreshing.

Green Tea: For Green Tea the needles are picked after they are allowed more maturity. They are then oven fired to reduce the moisture to 5 –10% for storage. They still retain high levels of the polyphenols, catechins and flavonoids for good health.

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And here's more;
from ehow~
http://www.ehow.com/how_2102192_pine-needle-tea.html

1. Select your pine needles by picking the newest green ones from the tree. These would be the ones nearest the end of each branch, and slightly lighter green than the rest of the needles.
2. Finely chop them until you have about 1/2 cup.
3. Add your needles to the boiling water and simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the volume of water has reduced by about 1/3.
4. Allow it to steep for anywhere from 20 minutes to overnight, depending on how strong you like your tea. The result will be a reddish colored tea with a mild taste. Store in the refrigerator.

THINGS YOU'LL NEED:
1/2 cup fresh green white pine needles, finely chopped
1.5 pints water
small pot for boiling
honey or some other sweetner (optional)


Read more: How to Make Pine Needle Tea | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_2102192_pine-needle-tea.html#ixzz0yDYF4yxB

Dandelion Wine

Dandelion Pharmacy
Excerpt from pages 151 - Healing Wise

Dandelion Wine à la Laughing Rock
Our year's supply...
2gal/8 liter crock
3-5 qts/3-5 liters blossoms
5 qts/5 liters water
3 pounds/1.5 kg sugar
1 organic orange
1 organic lemon
1 pkg/8 grams live yeast whole wheat bread toast


DIRECTIONS:
Find a field of dandelions in bloom on a glorious shining day. Follow the honeybees to the finest flowers. Pick them with a sweeping motion of your parted fingers, like a comb. I leave the green sepals on, but get rid of all stalks.

Back home, put blossoms immediately into a large ceramic, glass, or plastic vessel. Boil water; pour over flowers. Cover your crock with cheesecloth. Stir daily for three days. On the fourth day, strain blossoms from liquid.

Cook liquid with sugar and rind of citrus (omit rind if not organic) for 30-60 minutes. Return to crock. Add citrus juice. When liquid has cooled to blood temperature, soften yeast, spread on toast, and float toast in crock. Cover and let work two days. Strain.

Return liquid to crock for one more day to settle. Filter into very clean bottles and cork lightly. Don't drink until winter solstice.

Preparation time: A week's worth of effort yields a drink not only delightful but good for your liver, as well.


Well, maybe next year. I need a couple of crocks. It's another addition to an already excedingly large list. Tootles.
Cheers,
Alli

Pine Needle Tea; by Susun Weed

The warming air of this verdant May morning touches my senses with pine. In the sweet-scented shade of a towering white pine much like the one I now sit under, the Peaceful Nations buried their weapons. I breathe deeply, asking their ancient wisdom to flow into me with the refreshing pine smell.

The nations of the Adirondacks (a word which means "tree eaters") ate the inner bark of White Pines as one of their primary winter foods.

I slice a strip from the underside of a small limb, thanking the tree for its gifts of nourishment. The antiseptic sensation in my throat as I chew brings to mind "Pine Brothers' Cough Drops." I feel my lungs open, my throat open, my sinuses open, warmed and stimulated by White Pine, lofty yet generous tree.

Europeans didn't eat White Pine (at least, not at first). They cut the straight, tall trees (150 feet was not an uncommon height and there are records of 200 and 250 foot trees) and sent them to the shipyards, where they masted huge sailing ships.

But eat Pine they did. Old records reveal numerous English settlements where virtually all of the colonists died of scurvy (lack of vitamin C) during their first winters in the "New World." Compassionate Native Americans suggested a daily tea of Pine needles, one of Nature's richest sources of vitamin C, and saved the colonists' lives. Pine needle tea has become one of my winter favorites, as well, staving off not only scurvy, But colds, congestion, and the flu.

The sticky sap I pry loose from the pine cone near me was chewed, no doubt, by Indian youth. It contains an (FDA approved) substance nearly 2000 times sweeter than sugar. I savor its surprising intensity, remembering winter sore throats soothed and sore gums strengthened. (Myrrh is a distant relative.) Mixed with grease, the sap is a superb sealant for canoes and water vessels.

As I close my eyes and savor the sweet, pungent taste and smell of Pine, I remember a story I heard from a woman who guides canoe trips. One of the participants ran his aluminum canoe into a rock, splitting the canoe and gashing his thigh deeply from knee to hip. Emergency care was 4-5 days away. They bound his thigh with limber strips of fresh White Pine bark and continued on. "I still marvel," she told me, "at the speed and ease with which That very nasty cut healed."

"Pine Tar Salve" reads the label. Looks black, like my hands when I handle fresh cut pine, or my clothes when I sit on the wrong stump. "Works like heck," says my neighbor. "Put It on dog sores, cat fight wounds, boils, ulcers, blisters. Draws out splinters, stys, and pimples. Soothes burns, hemorrhoids, and itchy bites. Even cures you of poison ivy. Give It a try."

I'll be in good company if I do. The Native people of North American valued no single healing/nourishing plant more highly than Pine. They used not only the sap, But also the boiled mashed inner bark, to heal the inevitable injuries of an outdoor life.

Icelanders of the fifteenth century took the sap mixed with honey to ease lung troubles.
Oriental herbalists use knots from their pines as medicine, especially praising the decoction (with Tang Gui) as a remedy for arthritis.

Is there a Pine growing by you? It's very likely. Take a moment; to the Pine, great tree of peace, tree of healing. Joyously feel the blessing of the trees. Breathe in the calming yet exhilarating scent of Pine. Truly, the trees shall heal us.


More......

http://www.susunweed.com/herbal_ezine/Weed_letter_Dec-01.htm

Looking for Paprika info by D.C. Jarvis; notes on Cayene and D. C. Jarvis

http://www.jcrows.com/cayenne.html

D. C. Jarvis unpublished notes $49.95
http://www.jcrows.com/jarvisnotebook.html



Digestion

Cayenne can rebuild the tissue in the stomach and the peristaltic action in the intestines. It aids elimination and assimilation, and helps the body to create hydrochloric acid, which is so necessary for good digestion and assimilation, especially of proteins. All this becomes very significant when we realize that the digestive system plays the most important role in mental, emotional and physical health, as it is through the digestive system that the brain, glands, muscles and every other part of the body are fed.

Heart

Cayenne has been known to stop heart attacks within 30 seconds. For example, when a 90-year-old man in Oregon had a severe heart attack, his daughter was able to get Cayenne extract into his mouth. He was pronounced dead by the medics, but within a few minutes, he regained consciousness. On the way to the hospital, he remained in a semi-conscious state, but the daughter kept giving him the Cayenne extract. By the time they got to the hospital, he had fully recovered and wanted to go home and mow the lawn. The doctor asked what she had given him, as he said it was the closest thing to a miracle he had ever seen.

If a heart attack should occur, it is suggested that a teaspoon of extract be given every 15 minutes or a teaspoon of Cayenne in a glass of hot water be taken until the crisis has passed. Dr. Anderson also knew of a doctor who rushed out into the parking lot and put cayenne tincture into the mouth of a man who had died of a heart attack while he was parking his car. Within a few minutes, the man’s heart starting beating again.

According to Dr. Richard Anderson, using cayenne and hawthorn berries together has a most incredible effect upon the heart. He believes that a regimen of cayenne and hawthorn berries for several months will greatly strengthen the heart, and possibly prevent heart attacks. He states further that if an attack were to occur in someone who had followed this regimen, chances are very good that no damage would occur. He tells the following story about his mother:

“I had her taking hawthorn berries and cayenne when she had a heart attack at the age of 79. Her diet had not been the best, and she was in an extremely stressful situation. While in the hospital, they found three blocked arteries and wanted to operate immediately. They did not think that she could survive for more than a few weeks if they didn’t operate. (How many have heard that story!) The doctors thought it would be very risky to operate, but they had her there, and there was a lot of money to be made. So they decided to take some tests in the hopes that they could find an excuse to operate. In spite of the fact that she had been taking lots of aspirin for her arthritis, smoked like she was the reincarnation of a boiler factory, and had just had a heart attack, they found that her heart was incredibly strong. In fact, they felt that her heart was stronger than most people in their 30’s! The good news was that not only did she survive the operation, but also she stopped smoking! Well worth the operation, don’t you think? In my opinion, that was the best thing the doctors ever did for her. Well, that is what hawthorn and cayenne can do for the heart, and every good herbalist knows it; every good doctor should also know it, but very few do.”

Emergencies

It is a good idea to always have some Cayenne extract on hand for emergencies. Dr. Anderson carries capsules of cayenne with him in the car and whenever he goes hiking, backpacking or mountain climbing. He says, “You never know when you may find someone having a heart attack or some other emergency.”

The following stories demonstrate only a few of the remarkable emergency uses of cayenne.

If a hemorrhage occurs in the lungs, stomach, uterus or nose, it is suggested that a teaspoon of extract (or a teaspoon of cayenne powder in a cup of hot water) be given every 15 minutes until the crisis has passed. The bleeding should stop in 10-30 seconds. The reason for this is that rather than the blood pressure being centralized, it is equalized by the Cayenne, and the clotting action of the blood becomes more rapid. For external bleeding, take cayenne internally and pour cayenne directly on the wound.

Dr. Anderson, author of Cleanse and Purify Thyself, tells of one time when he was on the beach and a man began passing a kidney stone . The man took some cayenne, which relieved his pain almost immediately.

A person known to Dr. Anderson had a severe toothache in the middle of the night on a weekend. He tried many things to relieve the pain. Cayenne was the only thing that helped.

One of the youngest persons to take cayenne was a six-week old baby who was born with chronic asthma. Dr. John Christopher administered the cayenne using an eyedropper, and it then became possible for the baby to breathe normally.

Dr. Christopher has used cayenne to eliminate allergies, varicose veins, cramps, constipation, and to increase energy.

Dr. Anderson recommends cayenne to help cleanse the body, increase body heat, improve circulation, and strengthen the eyes. But above all, Dr. Anderson feels that cayenne is exceptionally beneficial for the heart.

Rich Anderson published the first Cleanse and Purify Thyself in 1988. It became one of the most popular books on cleansing ever written. With almost no advertising, this book spread around the world and was translated into several languages.

Dr. Richard Schulze - "If you take cayenne pepper in capsules, you may be wasting your time and never getting the cures I got with my patients."


Historical or traditional use

The potent, hot fruit of cayenne has been used as medicine for centuries. It was considered helpful for various conditions of the gastrointestinal tract, including stomachaches, cramping pains, and gas. Cayenne was frequently used to treat diseases of the circulatory system. It is still traditionally used in herbal medicine as a circulatory tonic (a substance believed to improve circulation). Rubbed on the skin, cayenne is a traditional, as well as modern, remedy for rheumatic pains and arthritis due to what is termed a counterirritant effect. A counterirritant is something which causes irritation to a tissue to which it is applied, thus distracting from the original irritation (such as joint pain in the case of arthritis).

Herbs that Ease Anxiety and Fear; Nettle, Oatstraw, Motherwort, and more...

In this series of articles adapted from her best-selling book New Menopausal Years the Wise Woman Way (available through www.ashtreepublishing.com, herbalist Susun S Weed shares her favorite herbs and home remedies for dealing with fear, anxiety, nervousness, grief, depression, rage, fatigue, and sleeplessness. Her Wise Woman remedies are simple and safe to use, easy to find and buy, and amazingly effective.

Fear and anxiety are closely linked, but quite different. Fear is focused, anxiety is diffuse. Fear is health promoting and protective: It keeps us from jumping off cliffs. Anxiety can destroy health and increase our vulnerability: It shortens our breath, narrows our blood vessels, and interferes with the functioning of the immune system. Fear is useful energy; it calls to our courage. Anxiety is useless; it promotes feelings of insecurity, helplessness, weakness.

Notice the difference in yourself between fear and anxiety. Whenever possible, find the fear hidden in your anxiety and let it call forth your strength and power. The following remedies can help you make this transformation.

Bach flower remedies are easy to carry and use. A dose is 1-4 drops, taken as needed. One or more of the following may ease your anxiety: Aspen (anxious about the future); Mimulus (anxious about the past); Red Chestnut (anxious about the safety of others); Elm (overwhelming anxiety); Rock Rose (anxiety that escalates into panic).

The smell of roses has been used for centuries to ease anxiety. A touch of rose essential oil on the seam of your sleeve will wrap you in calming fragrance all day. To magnify the effect, have a massage with rose-scented balms. Even one massage can cause a marked decrease in anxiety for weeks afterwards.

Yoga postures, yoga breathing, and quiet, focused meditation are excellent ways to tonify (and soothe) the sympathetic nervous system. Regular practice alleviates anxiety, often permanently. If you feel so anxious you think you might burst, try the lion pose. Open your mouth very wide; even wider! Stick your tongue out; even further. Open your eyes really wide; bigger. Rotate eyes left, then right. Breathe deeply and exhale fully up to ten times. Keep the shoulders and the forehead relaxed. This pose unblocks the throat, releases facial tension, relaxes the breathing muscles, and relieves anxiety.

Stinging nettle infusion strengthens the adrenals: relieving anxiety and building focused energy. Depleted adrenals often over-react, giving rise to sudden sensations of anxiety, fear, and nervousness. Use bulk herb, not tea bags, not capsules. Put one ounce by weight (about a cup by volume) of the dried nettle herb in a quart jar. Fill the jar to the top with boiling water and cover tightly. Let steep for at least four hours; overnight is fine. Strain herb out and drink the remaining liquid. Iced nettle infusion is particularly good. The taste is green, like spinach broth, and is better seasoned with salt than sugar or honey. Refrigerate your nettle infusion after straining it and drink it promptly as it is likely to ferment is kept for more than two days.


Oatstraw infusion is another favorite of those who want to feel less anxious. Preparation is the same as for nettle infusion; remember to avoid tea bags and capsules. The taste of oatstraw is softer and more mellow; you will enjoy it warm with a little honey. Green oat tincture is much more powerful than oatstraw infusion. It is especially useful for those whose anxiety is combined with excessive nervous energy. Or try a hot bath with lemon balm or oatstraw; an ancient remedy for bad cases of the “nerves.” Ahhhh. . . .

Motherwort tincture is my favorite calmative. It is not sleep inducing nor mind numbing. A dose of 10-20 drops can safely be taken as often as every ten minutes, if needed, to calm and soothe sore spirits. "Like sitting in my mother's lap," one satisfied user commented. Motherwort tea tastes terrible and is not very effective; likewise the capsules are not useful. Motherwort tincture can be taken every day if you wish, but you will find that you don't need it as you have used it for a while.

A dropperful of St. Joan’s/John's wort tincture is the remedy to reach for when you are on edge and feel like anything will push you over it. The dose can be repeated safely several times an hour if needed. This nerve-nourishing and nerve-strengthening herb relieves the immediate anxiety and helps prevent future distress as well.

Herbal tranquilizers are safer than prescription tranquilizers, but are best reserved for occasional use. Valerian is the best known. Because its action can be quite strong, it is best to begin with a five-drop dose, which can be repeated every 10-15 minutes until you are calm (and probably asleep). To avoid addiction, use valerian root as a tea or a tincture, not in capsules, and take it for no more than three weeks. Skullcap tincture is less addictive and often more effective. The dose is 10-20 drops of fresh plant tincture or 1-2 dropperfuls of dried plant tincture. Skullcap can also be sleep inducing, but it is rarely habituating.


Exercise is a ready remedy for overwhelming anxiety. If you feel like running away from it all, running or skating or walking briskly might be the very thing to do. Fifteen to twenty minutes of heart-pounding exercise will use up your excess adrenalin and “eat up” your stress.

Extreme fear or anxiety may lead to hyperventilation. If you are breathing rapidly and shallowly and feel spaced out you can 1) breathe into a paper bag until normal breathing resumes or 2) hold your breath (you can actually put your hand over your nose and mouth) for a count of 20; then breathe out as slowly as you can.

Calcium keeps the nerves steady. A glass of warm milk is an old wives' trusted ally for relieving anxiety. Stinging nettle is an excellent source of calcium when brewed as an infusion; one cup can contain as much as 500 mg of calcium. Oatstraw infusion is also loaded with calcium, with one cup containing up to 300 mg. Soy beverage can have the opposite effect -- that is, it may increase anxiety -- due to its ability to disrupt thyroid functioning and interfere with calcium metabolism. One herbalist who consumed large quantities of soy "milk" and soy protein bars wound up in the hospital with an irregular heartbeat and severe anxiety. If you think you are lactose intolerant, drink no more than four ounces of milk at a time, or use yogurt instead of milk. (Yogurt is generally free of lactose.)

Of course you don't want to do all these things at once! But you could join a yoga class, use nettle or oatstraw infusion daily, and have a bottle of motherwort or skullcap tincture handy for times when you are exceptionally anxious. By working with strengthening herbs and exercises, you not only relieve the bothersome symptoms but improve your overall health. That's the Wise Woman Way.
This article appeared in the December 2001edition as the first of a featured ongoing column by Susun Weed at http://www.awakenedwoman.com/

more on motherwort from Susun;
http://www.susunweed.com/Article_Motherwort.htm

TY my dear friends for sharing you insights and herbal introspective and more...
With much gratitude and love,
Allison

Susun Weed and Skullcap; indirectly ~ my adventures ~

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And thanks be to my wonderful friend who introduced me to Susun, indirectly through some of her work such as this excerpt. If you are whimsically inclined you will for sure enjoy her writing. If you are more traditional thinking, you may come away with some criticisms. This is my journal entry. It is not a critical analysis.
Namaste~~~
With much gratitude, Alli
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Skullcap
Herbal Adventures with Susun S Weed

by Susun S. Weed

I promised to meet you deep in the woods during a summer thunderstorm. That's my favorite time to pick one of my favorite mints: mad dog weed, also known as skullcap. I always keep a bottle in my firstaid kit, just in case. Here, you take the basket and scissors, I have the vodka; let's make some skullcap tincture.

If you're going to come with me to hunt for skullcap (Scutellaria lateriflora), may I suggest you take off your shoes. Skullcap grows in wet places and the mud feels nice between your toes. No sense in searching for her until the nights are warm. I usually harvest skullcap in August here in the Catskills, when she is at the peak of her growth and flowering.

I'm blessed to have skullcap in my wet woods. She is somewhat rare, and difficult to find. She's very shy. And likes to hide. Most people who look for skullcap come away empty-handed. But if you don't find her, you will very likely find Lycopus, wolf mint, sometimes called mountain mint.

Where skullcap is sprawling and lanky, hardly trying to stand up, wolf mint is erect and short. Skullcap has blue-purple flowers, while wolf mint has little ruffs (whorls) of white flowers around the stem. Despite these differences, Lycopus is considered an excellent substitute for skullcap.

These mints need to be tinctured fresh. Drying skullcap or wolf mint evaporates most of the delicate components that make these plants so gently effective. So I use only the very freshest plant material. That's why we're taking the vodka to the skullcap. We're going to make our tincture in the woods. Even a short delay between harvesting and tincturing weakens the final product.

If you can't find skullcap, you may want to try growing her. She is fussy, and very demanding. Unlike most mints, she likes rich earth, but not too rich. She wants wet soil, but not too wet. And she likes dappled sunlight but not too shady, and not too sunny either, please.

Let's sing as we walk to the skullcap "swamp." Singing is my favorite form of prayer. And I want skullcap to hear us coming and welcome us. Aha! Here we are--feel the squishy warm mud underfoot?

See if you can find the skullcap among the life root (Senecio aureus) and forget-me-nots. Look not only for her blue-violet flowers but also for her strangely shaped seed pods. They are said to look like skulls, but you will have to use your imagination to see the resemblance. Perhaps she got her name from her ability to relieve headaches. Or because, if you take enough skullcap, your head droops like her flowers and you sleep.

Because there is so little skullcap, even where there seems to be a lot of it, and because drying it makes it nearly worthless as a medicinal plant in my estimation, I don't make tea or infusion with it. Remember that even if we harvested a pound of fresh skullcap, it would dry down to a mere four ounces. Instead, I preserve and maximize skullcap's properties by tincturing her. And since I use skullcap primarily for pain relief, it's great to have a fast-acting tincture.

I find a small dose (3-5 drops of fresh skullcap tincture) takes the edge off a simple tension headache in a few minutes. A larger dose (10-15 drops), taken three or four times at the beginning of a major headache, can often stop it from coming on or moderate its pain and length. A really large dose (a dropperful or 15-25 drops) will make you very sleepy. So, be very cautious.

But you don't need to take skullcap tincture by the handful to get to sleep. As little as ten drops in a cup of warm milk (or hot chocolate) is quite effective. Lighting a candle, cuddle up in bed, drink your skullcap nightcap, and get ready for pleasant dreams.

People addicted to sleeping pills (and other addictive substances) find skullcap tincture an ally when they are ready to get off drugs. Make sure there's a glass of water with another dose of skullcap already in it next to your bed, in case you need it. Then blow out the candle, say your prayers, and good night.

Skullcap tincture relieves almost any pain, especially when the nerves are involved. Try skullcap when bothered by sciatica pain, neuralgia, toothache, eye twitches, or ringing in the ears.

Skullcap was a powerful ally for me when I sprained my wrist far from home on a camping trip. The pain was so intense I thought I wouldn't be able to sleep. But a dropperful of skullcap put me out. Every time the pain woke me--probably a dozen times that first night--I took another dropperful and went back to sleep almost instantly.

Skullcap works well with St. Joan's wort (discussed in a previous SageWoman). These friends, taken together, ease migraines, relax stiff muscles, and relieve pain throughout the body.

If I'm in a stressful situation, I take 1-2 drops of skullcap in the morning, right after I get up. It seems to strengthen my nervous system, and doesn't make me at all sleepy.

If you buy skullcap tincture, and it is made from dried plants, multiply my doses by ten to get the same effects.

Listen to that thunder roll across the mountains. They say it's Rip Van Winkle playing at nine pins with the wee folk. Time to head back to the house, where we can pull out the last two remedies in my first-aid kit. And we'd better move fast or more than our feet will be wet.



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Question and Answer:

Dear Susun,
Thank you for your wonderful article on comfrey leaf in SageWoman. I ordered a pound of comfrey leaf from Frontier, assuming it would be the cultivated kind. But it was labeled Symphytum officinale. I spoke to someone there, but she didn't seem to understand my question, and said that even if it was the cultivated type they would still stand behind their warning of "external use only."

This spring I will plant comfrey so I won't have to rely on Frontier, but in the meantime, I would like to begin the infusion. Should I trust the label and assume it is the wild variety, or should I just go for it and hope that it has no toxins? By the way, your website is awesome.
Nicole

Dear Nicole;
I think the Frontier comfrey leaf is mislabeled. I think everybody's comfrey leaf is mislabeled. Symphytum officinale--a small plant with yellow flowers--is rarely grown in North America, and never sold, so far as I can determine. So, despite the label, what you have bought is most likely an S. uplandica cross.

I'm not surprised there's so much confusion. I was taught the comfrey in my garden was Symphytum officinale, and passed on that misinformation for many years. That's what all the books say. But when I got involved with the Henry Doubleday Research Foundation in England, I learned that I was wrong. And when I finally saw wild comfrey growing (in Germany), it was obviously different from the big pink-purple flowered plant in my garden--and every garden I've been in.

I did once see wild comfrey in a garden. I was called in to help them get rid of it; unfortunately, an impossible task.

So I sincerely believe that the comfrey leaf you bought from Frontier is uplandica, whether they know it or not. I buy the very some organic comfrey leaf from them. That's what I use during the summer when the apprentices, students, and I go through 3-5 gallons of infusion a day. During the winter, when I'm alone, I use my home-grown comfrey.

To maximize alantoin content, I harvest the flowering stalks of my comfrey: that's the stalk, leaves, and flowers. I store the dried herb whole, but take the time to cut it up as small as I have patience for when I brew it into nourishing herbal infusion.
If you want to play it safe, or if you sense that you shouldn't use the comfrey you bought, then you could add it to your compost (the worms love it). Instead of comfrey, you could use mullein infusions and linden infusions.

There are so many green blessings.
Susun

PHOTO COURTESY OF;
Mollie Kellogg

Living With Remarkable Gratitude

Living with remarkable gratitude. I am not a victim. There are no lost causes. ""I've been there, done that, and know suffering -- but it's all good."" I'm still standing. ""Can't touch this."" Self-pity is an excuse to do nothing. To appeal to sympathy for pity's sake is to seek affirmation of the choice to do nothing. I am empowered by the spirit and support of meaningful experience and I transform with silent resilience."

Photo courtesy of Dana Driscoll