Parsley

Summer is well underway and between visitors, vacation and farm work I haven't had much time for posting! Plants are growing strong and everyday I am picking chamomile blossoms and calendula blossoms for drying as well as a variety of culinary herbs that will go into blends later. It is parsley however that has aroused new interests in me recently. Not only are its virtues excellent as a food, but parsley is also good as a skin care herb.

Parsley is very rich in vitamin K which has been shown to reduce dark circles under the eyes. It is also high in vitamin C which is necessary for collagen production and vitamin A which is necessary for skin cell regeneration. Essential oils are also found in parsley as well as flavonoids which are powerful antioxidants. You can reap alot of benefits from eating parsley in your salads and on your potatoes, including heart and joint health but also try it for skin care. Put a few tablespoons of ground parsley in some full fat yogurt and apply that to your face as a mask. Leave on for 10 minutes while you drink a cup of tea. Wipe off and rinse with water. Your face will feel great.

Colorado Aromatics newest product is a Parsley Eye Serum. This is a light oil to be used on the sensitive skin around the eyes. It is a very nourishing oil to help with fine lines and dark circles. You might also use it around the lips. You can find Parsley Eye Serum on my website: www.sagescript.com for just $6.25.

I hope your gardens are bountiful too!

A Walk in the Mountains

I love living close to the mountains but having a farm and a business leaves little time for hiking and other activities. But since this week my cousin, Pam, was visiting from Ohio, a scenic drive through the mountains with stops was a must. We stopped the car alongside this small stream and walked the trail along it a ways. The smells were fresh water and pine mixed with moss and flowers. I took pictures of these wild orchids and what I think is arnica (let me know if you agree); but we also saw wild roses, geraniums, grapes, choke cherries and clematis growing.

Its nice to have visitors here at our new place; visits from family especially help to bring blessings to a new home. My cousin will leave tomorrow and we will be back at the Longmont Farmers Market. Be sure to come visit us and tell your friends in Colorado to do so.

Wordless Wed - Roses are Blooming

Calendula in Skin Care

Calendula (Calendula officinalis), the pot marigold, is a great herb for skin care, and has perhaps the longest history of use of any herb in skin care. Even though its name is marigold, do not confuse it with the common ornamental marigold which is the genus Tagetes. Calendula is most widely used for skin and digestive issues, but also for menstrual symptoms.

The useful components of calendula include a volatile oil, carotenoids, flavonoids, mucilage, resin, polysachharides, aromatic plant acids as well as saponins, glycosides and sterols. Extracts of calendula can include an infused oil, alcohol tincture, water soluble tea, or distilled and used as essential oil or watery distillate (hydrolate).

The water soluble polysaccharides and saponins have been used as a tea to heal stomach ulcers as well as in a compress for various types of skin damage. These benefits can be reaped by using calendula as a tea to drink or to use as a skin wash. A poultice of calendula flower can be applied to a wound to help stop bleeding and promote healing.

Calendula is probably best used for chapped and otherwise irritated skin. The oil soluble components including the essential oil seem especially good at stimulating wound healing. Scientific studies find that extracts of calendula can speed the healing of skin wounds and burns. Calendula ointment has also been used to decrease dermatitis following skin irradiation for breast cancer.

The hydrolate or watery distillate of calendula can help with skin irritations and rashes. Used as a distillate it can be sprayed directly on the skin or can be substituted for any or all of the water portion of a cream or lotion. You can also use it for mouth sores and hemorrhoids. This distillate contains minute amounts of essential oil as well as organic acids.

Dried calendula petals are a great addition to soap because they maintain their color imparting an orange color to the soap. The petals are antiseptic, anti-inflammatory, and immune stimulating. These properties are useful for treating various types of dermatitis such as eczema.

Much of the healing properties of calendula are because of its high levels of carotenoids (vitamin A like compounds). Because these compounds are oil soluble, an infused oil is a good way to go. Calendula also contains oil soluble sterols that help plump the skin and keep it thick. An infused oil is easily made by filling a jar with dried calendula flowers and covering the flowers with a carrier oil of some type; almond oil, olive oil, etc. You can get more out of the flowers by macerating the mixture in a blender. Let this oil set (infuse) for two weeks or more shaking it periodically to help extract the properties from the flowers. When ready to use filter the oil through cheesecloth. You can use this oil directly in a balm or as part of the oil portion of a cream or lotion. This infused oil can help with skin regeneration, diaper rash, sunburn, bed sores and various inflammatory conditions. Do make sure that your calendula is dry and that the oil completely covers the plant material to prevent mold growth.

As an edible flower the fresh petals can be used in a salad, dip or rice. I find the flavor a little too resinous though. Although rare, there are cases of people having allergy to calendula when used in skin care. Always be aware that a person can have an allergy or sensitivity to anything and usage should be stopped immediately if any reaction occurs.

I use calendula in several of my products. I have a calendula/plantain balm that I call "Knuckle Balm" and I also use calendula infused oil in my hand lotion and face cream. I hear testimonials of my calendula oatmeal soap as being great for eczema.

References

Duran, V., et al. Results of the clinical examination of an ointment with marigold (Calendula officinalis) extract in the treatment of venous leg ulcers. Int. J. Tissue React. 2005 27(3):101-6.

Pommier, P., et al. Phase III randomized trial of Calendula officinalis compared to trolamine for the prevention of acute dermatitis during irradiation for breast cancer. J. Clin. Oncol. 2004 22(8):1447-53.

Rhubarb Season

Rhubarb is probably the first ‘fruit’ of the season; although it is not really a fruit but a stem and related to buckwheat. It is easy to grow and will spread some so that you will have plenty. The taste is both sweet and tart. Although my sons and husband will eat it raw from the garden, I prefer to have it cooked. In a crisp is probably my favorite way to have rhubarb, but this rhubarb bread is also delicious.

Rhubarb is high in vitamin K (40 mcg/diced cup) so limit its intake if you are on coumadin. Vitamin K is necessary for the synthesis of clotting proteins in the liver. Rhubarb is also high in potassium, magnesium, calcium and lutein. Of course its fibrous texture indicates that rhubarb is also high in fiber which is great for the digestive tract.

2 ¼ cup packed brown sugar
1 cup oil
2 eggs
1 ½ cup milk (or buttermilk)
1 tsp salt
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp vanilla
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 ½ cup white flour
3 cups diced rhubarb
½ c chopped pecans

1 T soft butter
¼ c granulated sugar

Combine brown sugar and oil in a bowl until smooth. Add eggs milk, salt, baking soda, vanilla and flour and mix until moistened. Add rhubarb and nuts. Stir and pour into 3 greased bread pans. Combine butter and sugar and crumble over top of batter. Bake at 350° F for 50-55 minutes.

Enjoy!

Another good thing to do with rhubarb is to make a syrup from it by boiling it with water and sugar. This is how my Mom used to prepare rhubarb and it is great on ice cream and on pancakes. And if you have an abundance of rhubarb and want to save it, it does freeze well.

Ginger helps prevent nausea due to chemotherapy

It is unfortunate that side effects of cancer treatment can be so debilitating as to cause the patient to make the decision to stop taking treatment. A new study presented this week at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Scociety of Clinical Oncologists (ASCO) shows that ginger is useful for treating chemotherapy associated nausea.

This study involved 644 patients who were already taking drugs (antiemetics) to help reduce nausea. These antiemetic drugs were 5-HT3 receptor antagonists including ondansetron and granisetron. In many patients these drugs are not effective enough. When ginger was taken in addition to these drugs ginger was able to further reduce nausea by 40%.

The study researchers (from the University of Rochester) suspect that ginger acts by reducing inflammation in the GI tract. This study is consistent with other smaller studies that have found ginger to be effective in reducing nausea. The lowest dose used was 0.5 g capsules which were found to be effective. This is equivalent to ¼ to ½ teaspoon of ground ginger.

Ginger is a spice often used in Indian and Chinese cuisine. It refers to the root of the plant. Ginger has been traditionally been used to treat nausea as well as colds and flu. It has antibacterial properties, antipyretic and analgesic properties and can sooth coughs and sore throats. It can be drank as a tea but its rather spicey taste can be too hot for some. Ginger can also be found in capsule form.

Ginger is probably most commonly ingested as ginger ale. The actual amount of ginger found in some ginger ales however may be too low to be effective as an anti nausea treatment. Researchers suggest that patients who are interested in trying ginger themselves to be sure they use real ginger and not just ginger flavoring that might be found in some foods.

Ref: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/702935

The Scent of Lilacs

The lilacs have been blooming for over a week now and the scent as I walk out my back door is intoxicating. I love lilacs. As a child we had one next to the patio that I used to play around and had my kindergarten graduation picture taken next to it.

It seems a mystery why the scent of lilacs cannot be captured by distillation. When I distilled lilac the aroma was quite similar to my son's dirty socks; not something I'd like to elaborate on. I know the scent molecules are there since they enter my nose. I guess the boiling point of those molecules is just not compatible with the distillation process. I've been extracting lilacs in alcohol, but so far only have an alcohol scent. Perhaps a good way to do it is similar to enfleurage, or an oil extract. Maybe I still have time to try this before their blossoms fade.


I recently did a guest blog at Etsy Green and Clean as part of a series on herbs in skin care. You can read it here:
http://egcgswag.blogspot.com/2009/05/using-herbs-botanicals-in-skin-care-by.html

I have been participating in the Longmont Farmers Market and will continue to do so relatively regularly for the rest of the summer. Markets are Saturday morning from 8-2 at the Boulder County Fairgrounds. If you live near or are planning a Colorado vacation this summer stop by and say hi and try a tester of my new parsley eye serum!

Using Herbs in Skin Care

Botanicals and botanical extracts are big in skin care right now. But what are they, do they work and how do you use them? We’ll touch on these topics here in a series of blogs. One advantage to using botanicals and herbs as active ingredients is that they are a renewable resource and they support farmers and open space and thus promote sustainability. Take care though because sometimes botanicals can be unethically harvested from the wild in a way that damages the environment and that defeats the purpose. And the image of herbs or natural products as being safe has to be lost because it just isn’t true. Too much of anything is harmful; water is fatal if inhaled. On the flip side, not enough of something can have no effect at all and simply be used as filler or label appeal. Herbs are not only nutrients for us but also for bacteria and mold. So preserving and testing your product is important; unless of course it something to be used within a few days. Lotions are like food; you wouldn’t leave a sandwich on your bedside table to be eaten over a period of weeks and neither should you do so with a cosmetic that is not preserved properly.

The simplest herb preparation is simply dried herb which can remain whole or be ground. Herbs used like this are great added to your melt and pour or cold processed soaps. Herbs can also be processed in a number of ways from distilling for essential oils or essential waters (distillates/hydrolates) or a variety of different types of extracts. These processes concentrate certain aspects of the herb that are typically either water soluble components or oil soluble components but not both. Know what properties you are after.

Herbs are rich in flavonoids, polyphenolic plant pigments. These are useful to humans as antioxidants but are mainly found in the water soluble extracts. Fat soluble vitamins such as A, E and K are also common in herbs but are mainly found in the fat soluble extracts and not water soluble extracts. Essential oils and small molecular weight organic acids are extracted by distillation because they have a boiling point near that of water and so will vaporize with heat. However, after distillation they will separate out into oil soluble portions (essential oil) and water soluble portion which is the watery distillate also called a hydrolate or a hydrosol. Because essential oils are concentrated terpenes they can be toxic to the skin or cause sensitivities (immune response) so shouldn’t be used willy nilly. Essential waters distilled from herbs are more dilute and safer but keep in mind that anything can cause sensitivities be it natural or synthetic.

There is a lot of redundancy in the herb world so you may not need that exotic, hard to find, expensive botanical from far away. Those same properties you are after may exist in a weed in your back yard. Of course, label appeal may not be the same for that!

Shannon Thompson from The Bath Project and part of the blog team at the Etsy Green and Clean has asked me to contribute some posting on herbs for skin care. This blog is part of a series of blogs I will also be posting at http://egcgswag.blogspot.com.

Swine Flu and You

Also called the swine flu, the influenza A strain H1N1 has gotten many people alarmed recently; possibly because of its similarities to the epidemic in 1918 that killed healthy people. Symptoms of this flu are similar to other strains of the flu so diagnosis can only be made by a respiratory swab. Results can take 1-5 days. It was just reported this morning however that a quick test has been developed in China that may come into popular use. The H1N1 flu strain is not one covered by the flu vaccine.

Becoming overly alarmed however will not keep you safe. The best thing to do is to work on prevention. The single most important thing you can do to decrease the spread of the flu is to wash your hands often. Contact is the primary method of transmitting the virus. It can be transmitted from one person’s hands to a doorknob where another person will pick it up and inadvertently touch their nose and infection will begin. Frequent washing of hands can prevent that transmission. Use soap and water to wash, rub your hands for 20-30 seconds, rinse and dry with a clean towel. Antibiotic containing soaps do not do a better job nor do hand sanitizers.
Drugs prescribed for swine flu include Tamiflu (oseltamivir) and Relenza (zanamivir). Both of these drugs are neuraminidase inhibitors that prevents the assembly and release of newly made viruses from host cells. Neither of these are without side effects however which include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and headache. Rare side effects include hepatitis and elevated liver enzymes, rash, allergic reactions including anaphylaxis, and Stevens-Johnson syndrome. Also reported have been toxic epidermal necrolysis, cardiac arrhythmia, seizure, confusion, aggravation of diabetes, and hemorrhagic colitis. Viral resistance to these drugs is also a concern.

Keeping a healthy immune system is an important part of prevention. Eat plenty of fruits and vegetables. Their high levels of flavonoids and vitamin C are a good combination for helping the immune system run optimally. They may also have antiviral activity. Many herbs have been found to be effective against viruses in general, but elderberry (Sambucus nigra) and licorice root (Glycyrrhiza glabra) have been shown to specifically have activity against the influenza virus. Elderberry neuraminidase activity, the same activity found in the drug Tamiflu. Thyme (Thymus vulgaris) has antiviral and antibacterial activity, is an expectorant, and has been traditionally used to treat respiratory infections successfully. Garlic is a wonderful herb for nearly any type of infection. If you start to feel sick, eating garlic toast is another good (and tasty) option.

You may also have heard some of the many theories about cytokine storm being a major problem with the swine flu and some herbalists recommending against immune stimulators because of that. Keep in mind that this is just a theory and we really do not know how the swine flu will play out. Personally, I think the key is in stimulating the immune system earlier rather than later; before the virus gains its stronghold.

A combination of antiviral, antibacterial and immune stimulating herbs can be found in Sagescript's Thymaflu product. This herb mixture comes in a small brown bottle. You add alcohol to the product in the form of brandy, rum, vodka or whiskey. Do this as soon as you get it so that it has time to steep to form a tincture - the longer the better. It keeps well with alcohol too. At the very first sign of a cold or flu (scratchy throat, runny nose, cough) begin taking 1 tablespoon of this tincture 2-3 times daily until symptoms pass. Yes, it tastes bad and you can add honey if you like. If you strain the herbs out it is easier but not necessary. Once used up you could add more alcohol to stretch it one time, but after that the tincture becomes too dilute. I've made plenty of these jars up to get us through this late flu season but get yours now. Once you add alcohol it can last until next year's flu season if you end up not using it. Order now at the $4.50 price before it goes to $4.75. Other cold/flu products we have include eucalyptus essential oil to clear the sinuses of congestion ($3.25), St. Blaise room and surface spray ($6.95) and Herbal VaporRub ($5.25) to rub on the chest and lymph nodes. We also have teas; yes, tea both black and green can stimulate the immune system and fight infections. The most important thing you can do to prevent the flu is to wash your hands often. Colorado Aromatics gives you a good choice of soaps to pick from! Shop at http://www.sagescript.com

Spring Planting

This is by far my favorite time of year, filled with hope and aspiration (and inspiration). This week was largely spent planting; strawberries, raspberries, and fruit trees. The next few weeks will be vegetables and herbs and a few more fruit trees. Unfortunately we won't have fruit to speak of this year, but next year we'll be making fruit crisps, drying fruit for use in tea and just plain eating fruit! And possibly distilling fruit tree blossoms.

Strawberries were purchased from Johnny's seeds and are Earliglow (early), Jewel (mid-late) and Seascape (day-neutral). This combination should allow us to be able to harvest strawberries from early summer to early fall.

Raspberries include Polana (everbearing), Nova (summer bearing) and a black raspberry, Jewel (summer bearing). The stick of a plant is barely visible planted here in compost. It will soon start to bear green leaves though.

The fruit trees shown in the picture below are a row of sour cherries; Montmorency. We did get several other trees including apples, pears and peaches, some of which haven't arrived yet.

Other fruit we already have includes rhubarb, Nanking cherries and choke cherries, a few plums, an apricot (which would seldom if ever bear fruit here in our climate) and some type of apple. We may remove a decorative crabapple to make room for something else. The choke cherries will be used to make cough medicine. Oh, and I nearly forgot there are a few gooseberries here and I planted currants in the fall. I've recently read about gooseberry extracted being tauted for use in skin care.

After all this planting our muscles and joints are sore. Yes, spring is a time when we appreciate a hot tub!

Signs of Spring for Wordless Wed

Hyssop, Comfrey and Chives are all starting to grow. We are expecting snow the end of the week though! Hopefully it brings needed moisture.

Will Spring ever Come?

We are finally getting much needed precipitation here in Colorado, in the form of snow which is accompanied by cold, cold weather. After several weeks of warm, spring-like weather that forced me outside to plant seeds in my raised beds I am now hoping that their plastic covering is enough to keep them warm. I do have tomatoes growing in my greenhouse though and have just planted squash and cucumber seeds too. I rub my hands across the tiny tomatoe seedlings daily to stengthen their stems. Fruit trees, strawberry plants and raspberry bushes are on order. Am hoping that the next few weeks we will be above freezing and outdoor work can again resume. In the meantime, reading and learning more about the plants I grow or want to grow is what feeds the the soul. The Essential Herbal Magazine is where much of that reading is. You can download a free copy of "The Essential Herbal Magazine" yourself to help in your spring planning. This particular issue (March 2008) includes information on growing a Victory Garden. Click here to download this copy, its sure to stimulate thoughts for your soon to be planted garden:  http://www.essentialherbal.com/MarchApril2008forweb.pdf