A Time to Celebrate
Autumn Blessings! No matter your tradition we have just concluded a time of celebration as we move through this season of harvest. With roots as pastoral people, most of our cultures and religions celebrate this past full moon (the Harvest Moon), or Autumnal Equinox….or as I did as a child, Rosh Hashanah, which is always celebrated on the new moon. It is a time of gathering and preparing for the winter ahead with a flurry of activity and wise preparation. This can be seen as a season of death celebrated. There was a long time where I only felt the darker side of this truth and dreaded the cold coming and the shortened days. Connecting to nature has brought me healing and richness and the desire to share some insights and favorite ways of celebrating life and new beginnings. Now I celebrate all of the above in various ways, always involving food, herbs and ritual.
In this Newsletter you’ll find:
I. Herbs for Autumn (Goldenrod & Elecampane)
II. Kitchen Medicine
III. Fortification (Seasonal Wellness Appointments)
IV. Events & Education
Goldenrod (Solidago spp.)
Featured here are two signature herbs for Autumn that, not surprisingly, imbue the color yellow (think sunshine) and are both members of the aster family. Goldenrod is one of these herbs and certainly a star of the season, as it is one of the last bright blossoms before the arrival of winter. Goldenrod is a gorgeous aster, blossoms clustering together on a stalk, decorating the roadsides with brilliant gold flags of flowers and providing late season fodder for bees. Many people associate goldenrod with allergies. Ragweed flowers at the beginning of goldenrod season, its unassuming green flower often wreaks havoc with its pollen. Toward the end of goldenrod season there is a lot of leaf rot and mold making many allergy sufferers feel horrible. Often times the goldenrod is not the problem (as its pollen is really too heavy to become airborne) but a viable solution. A tincture or tea of goldenrod can help dry up runny noses and drippy eyes. I just got hit with a horrible head cold, non stop sneezing and allergy- like drippiness. Goldenrod tincture in my fire cider helped ease things up.
Goldenrod (Solidago spp.) is also a wonderful plant to help us celebrate the sunshine when all we have left of summer are its memories. On a plantwalk a few summers back I was grateful to hear Rosemary Gladstar’s insights on goldenrod. She shared that she likes to call upon goldenrod where many others depend on st. johns wort to allay seasonal affective disorder. I loved hearing her interpretation of how goldenrod conjures the feeling of sunshine, and a gathering of community, like the ways the bees assimilate the sweet sunshine of summer into the delicious honey that sustains them through the winter. A goldenrod flower essence can be lovely for this, as can goldenrod oil, to use for massage.
Elecampane (Inula helenium)
Elecampane’s flower (Inula helenium) has come and gone, yet this yellow aster family flower calls to be celebrated as we enter a time where people suffer from increased incidence of respiratory infections. This past year was the first that I had so many Elecampane flowers in the garden and they bring such beauty and light. If you have never seen Elecampane growing you may not realize how majestic they are. These are flowers that tower above the basil and calendula, quite like their sunflower cousins. I will harvest the roots this Autumn, in their second year of life, and add them to organic cane alcohol to make a warming and pungent tincture. I’ll also make Elecampane honey by chopping the root and filling a clean jar with it, pouring local honey on top and letting it steep, capped in a warm, dark place for 6 weeks. I’ll then strain it, compost the root and store the medicinal honey in a cool dark place.
Elecampane is wonderful at strengthening and healing the respiratory system. It is an expectorant, so it helps move stuck mucous and clears up infections deep in the lungs and bronchioles. Those who live in the city, and deal with a lot of pollution and smog, would benefit from bringing elecampane in their life to help purify their pathways of respiration. Elecampane is also a digestive support, with its warm, drying and stimulating energetics. This plant lends itself to moving things along where there is stuck, damp energy.
Kitchen Medicine
Along with bringing these golden herbs into your life, it is a wonderful time to begin moving away from raw foods/salads and eating sauteed and steamed veggies instead. Soups and stews are wonderfully nourishing fall foods, to be enjoyed with cornbread, quinoa or brown rice. Seaweed is a nice addition to your soups, stews and rice. This is the time of year where I begin adding adaptogenic herbs and mushrooms to my pots as well. A muslin bag containing some ashwagandha root and reishi mushroom can be added to simmer in a soup or stew for the last half hour of cooking. The seaweed and adaptogens help fortify us for the cold season ahead.
Fortification (Seasonal Wellness Appointments)
Speaking of fortification, preparing for the season ahead, mentally, emotionally, physically and psychically is best done now. If anxiety, depression, re-current respiratory infections, flus or viruses are a reality for you, know that herbs and lifestyle attunement can help shift things positively. Now is the time to make your seasonal wellness appointments. I am happy to see you in New Paltz (at Dreamkeeper Farm), Manhattan (at the Iris Kaplan Center) or connect by phone or video chat. Custom formulations from the Dreamkeeper Apothecary can be crafted for you after our appointment, or I can guide you to sourcing herbs from other avenues.
Events & Education
If you are free on the evening of October 27th consider joining me for a workshop at the Kaaterskill Herb Exchange in Woodstock. In the “True History of Witches” we’ll explore our ancestral roots as healers and make tea with my favorite herbs for intuition, magic and setting clear boundaries. I’m also available for custom classes and class series. I’m currently teaching a 6 week botany/herbal medicine class with fifth graders and it’s tons of fun. Please reach out if you’d like to explore educational opportunities.
Enjoy the deliciously cool nights and beautiful leaves!
Love,
