Okay, Christine--I needed another rabbit hole, so thank you! 35 years ago I became interested in the concept of herbal medicine, and so devoted a section of my vegetable garden to those herbs, and made an herb-drying rack in my attic. Then for 20 years my life, although not my location, took a different turn, and I lost almost all of tho…
Okay, Christine--I needed another rabbit hole, so thank you! 35 years ago I became interested in the concept of herbal medicine, and so devoted a section of my vegetable garden to those herbs, and made an herb-drying rack in my attic. Then for 20 years my life, although not my location, took a different turn, and I lost almost all of those plants. Around 2018 I decided I'd like to restore that garden section, and did. The upset and upheaval in the medical sector determined me, last summer, to be more attentive not only to growing and drying, but actually to using them. At present, I have a shelf filled with various tinctures (Everclear 95% alcohol) and oils. Made a black walnut salve which my husband has been using daily on his toenails for the last 3 months. It's actually about time (3 mos) to check the appearance of those nails. I myself had reason to drink artemisia absinthium and vulgaris tea for a week, and noticed that the incipient stiffness in my knee disappeared. Elderberry syrup I made in September; then threw the rest of the berries into the freezer, and on Valentine's Day started the extractive process for turning them into liqueur. I joke about all this being herbal medicine for people who don't get sick. But most of us purchase insurance, of one sort or another, the idea being that we hope not to need it--we hope that the premiums will prove to be money down the drain. And so, with my herbal preparations. Also, a reason that I like to grow my own is that I know what is, and what is not, going into those plants.
I was hospitalised with what was called covid, and was entirely unprepared as I did not believe it was real. Hypoxia of unknown cause, and double pneumonia nearly killed me. When I got home from hospital, I decided to make up some elderberry tincture (just soaking dried berries in vodka) in case I collapsed again. I left the tincture in my freezer. My health has never recovered from whatever it was that flattened me, and 6 months later I had a bout of shingles. I went to a doctor and reluctantly took an antiviral which seemed to do nothing. (I was suffering brain fog and so not thinking well enough to really look after myself.) Again, too late, I searched the internet for natural shingles treatment and the ONLY one that returned was elderberry. I remembered the bottle hidden in my freezer and started taking that. Almost immediately, the rash that was still spreading down my arm and still oozing and active, stopped spreading and dried up. The pain lasted a few more weeks but it was clearly on the mend from the time I started on the elderberry. Now I cannot prove that the anti-viral drug did not have a delayed effect, but I now keep a permanent stock of elderberry tincture in my freezer and dried elderberries in my medicine stockpile.
I have no access to outside space except a very small and very hostile balcony. I have tried growing elderberries in pots and they have not died but they are clearly very unhappy and struggling to survive. If I had a garden, with what I know now, I would grow, at the very least, elderberry bushes, dandelions, wormwood, grapefruit and lemons trees and pomegranate bushes. And if I had a sensible amount of space, I would plant apricot trees for the kernels and fuji apples for the stem cells. These are all easy to turn into very powerful medicines. They are going to be the critical temperate climate medicines for recovery from the existing assaults on our health and for the next pandemic.
I have been trying to work out how apricot kernels compare to elderberries in level of anthocyanins. Elderberries are very high, along with other black berries, and seem to have more anthocyanins than apricot kernels when measured in grams per kilogram.
Oh my dear! Such a time for you! After you "sent" me on that search (was it only yesterday?), probably on GreenMedInfo--I saw a remark concerning the high purple-ness of elderberries, as indicator of high anthocyanin content, but their slightly bitter taste, as indicator of a hint of poison. I had understood from years back that females tend to dislike 'bitter'; while males appreciate it (think of hops in ale), and that this would make sense, in an evolutionary strategy, to keep females away from potential teratogens. So, I began to wonder about pokeweed--phytolacca americana, and an invasive plant where I live, which has extremely purple berries, but is "known to be poisonous", except that tradition says that folks do eat the boiled greens, and make pie from the berries. I have never dared to try a berry (but will this summer, should any show up), so cannot attest to any bitter content.
Okay, Christine--I needed another rabbit hole, so thank you! 35 years ago I became interested in the concept of herbal medicine, and so devoted a section of my vegetable garden to those herbs, and made an herb-drying rack in my attic. Then for 20 years my life, although not my location, took a different turn, and I lost almost all of those plants. Around 2018 I decided I'd like to restore that garden section, and did. The upset and upheaval in the medical sector determined me, last summer, to be more attentive not only to growing and drying, but actually to using them. At present, I have a shelf filled with various tinctures (Everclear 95% alcohol) and oils. Made a black walnut salve which my husband has been using daily on his toenails for the last 3 months. It's actually about time (3 mos) to check the appearance of those nails. I myself had reason to drink artemisia absinthium and vulgaris tea for a week, and noticed that the incipient stiffness in my knee disappeared. Elderberry syrup I made in September; then threw the rest of the berries into the freezer, and on Valentine's Day started the extractive process for turning them into liqueur. I joke about all this being herbal medicine for people who don't get sick. But most of us purchase insurance, of one sort or another, the idea being that we hope not to need it--we hope that the premiums will prove to be money down the drain. And so, with my herbal preparations. Also, a reason that I like to grow my own is that I know what is, and what is not, going into those plants.
I was hospitalised with what was called covid, and was entirely unprepared as I did not believe it was real. Hypoxia of unknown cause, and double pneumonia nearly killed me. When I got home from hospital, I decided to make up some elderberry tincture (just soaking dried berries in vodka) in case I collapsed again. I left the tincture in my freezer. My health has never recovered from whatever it was that flattened me, and 6 months later I had a bout of shingles. I went to a doctor and reluctantly took an antiviral which seemed to do nothing. (I was suffering brain fog and so not thinking well enough to really look after myself.) Again, too late, I searched the internet for natural shingles treatment and the ONLY one that returned was elderberry. I remembered the bottle hidden in my freezer and started taking that. Almost immediately, the rash that was still spreading down my arm and still oozing and active, stopped spreading and dried up. The pain lasted a few more weeks but it was clearly on the mend from the time I started on the elderberry. Now I cannot prove that the anti-viral drug did not have a delayed effect, but I now keep a permanent stock of elderberry tincture in my freezer and dried elderberries in my medicine stockpile.
I have no access to outside space except a very small and very hostile balcony. I have tried growing elderberries in pots and they have not died but they are clearly very unhappy and struggling to survive. If I had a garden, with what I know now, I would grow, at the very least, elderberry bushes, dandelions, wormwood, grapefruit and lemons trees and pomegranate bushes. And if I had a sensible amount of space, I would plant apricot trees for the kernels and fuji apples for the stem cells. These are all easy to turn into very powerful medicines. They are going to be the critical temperate climate medicines for recovery from the existing assaults on our health and for the next pandemic.
I have been trying to work out how apricot kernels compare to elderberries in level of anthocyanins. Elderberries are very high, along with other black berries, and seem to have more anthocyanins than apricot kernels when measured in grams per kilogram.
Oh, how I wish I had a garden, but not to be.
Oh my dear! Such a time for you! After you "sent" me on that search (was it only yesterday?), probably on GreenMedInfo--I saw a remark concerning the high purple-ness of elderberries, as indicator of high anthocyanin content, but their slightly bitter taste, as indicator of a hint of poison. I had understood from years back that females tend to dislike 'bitter'; while males appreciate it (think of hops in ale), and that this would make sense, in an evolutionary strategy, to keep females away from potential teratogens. So, I began to wonder about pokeweed--phytolacca americana, and an invasive plant where I live, which has extremely purple berries, but is "known to be poisonous", except that tradition says that folks do eat the boiled greens, and make pie from the berries. I have never dared to try a berry (but will this summer, should any show up), so cannot attest to any bitter content.
You are my hero! Where did you get the knowledge to make the tinctures?
When I began this investigation, in the 1980's, print sources were the only location for knowledge. But you have the internet at your command.