Natural Medicine in the City Day 7

Last week, it was the final session for our workshops. For the last workshop, we presented on a herb we liked, as well as celebrated our completion with a potluck party. Thinking back, I had definitely learned a lot more about herbalism and had a great time putting it into practice.

To wrap up our workshop, we each chose a herb and did a presentation about its characteristics and medicinal uses. I chose oregano which is one of my favorite cooking herbs. It was actually quite interesting doing this presentation as I learned that there were actually two different types of oregano, one for cooking and one for medicinal use. Its actually surprisingly beneficial, where gram for gram, it's got more nutrients than apples and blueberries. Overall, I thought everyone did a great job with their presentations and I think we all learned a bit more because of it.

To celebrate the completion of our workshop, we had a potluck party. Each dish had a herbal element to it and the foods were very delicious. I made an oregano pasta, continuing the focus of my presentation. It was quite the potluck with many creative dishes and was probably the most nutritional meal I've had in a while. Many different herbs were featured in the dishes including dandelion fritters, herbal pesto spaghetti, nettle soup, apple cider, etc. I was very impressed with how everyone used different herbs to create herbal food, new ways for people to get the benefits. I think some of us could even open their own restaurant based on herbalism...herbalism cooking?

Thinking back, the last seven weeks I've learned quite a lot about herbalism. I came into the workshop unfamiliar with the idea and was curious in how we can use it. Since then, I've not only learned that many of the plants around us have medicinal benefits but also, put it into practice. I was able to make my own medicine, using plants that I collected. There's a very satisfying feeling in that, being able to heal yourself. I think the medicine I enjoyed the most was the poplar salve. It was the first one we made and I have been using it since we made it. Going forward, I'll continue to read and learn about the different plants around us. Hopefully, I'll find a new recipe and make my own herbal remedy. I really want to thank Samantha and Julia for hosting this great workshop and I encourage anyone reading this and interested in herbalism to apply for it when it opens up again. Best of luck to my fellow attendees!

As always, pictures are here!

Natural Medicine in the City 6

Our workshop is nearing its conclusion and last week was our second last workshop. On a surprisingly sunny afternoon, we discussed potential herbs for our presentation next workshop, as well as collected some dandelion for eating and plantain to make a poultice. We also had our weekly tea session and bottled our garlic and oregon grape root tinctures.

At the beginning of our workshop, we discussed what ways we can explore herbalism in the future. For me, I'm most interested in looking at how traditional Chinese medicine compares to what I've learned throughout the last couple weeks. Since the workshops began six weeks ago, I've begun to notice that I've been inadvertently practicing herbalism since I was little. A lot of Chinese cooking that my mom makes contains Chinese ingredients which are supposed to provide medicinal benefits. This idea that I've been practicing herbalism really solidified since the rose hip tea we drank the other week. In the future, I will want to dig through my mom's pantry and try to identify which ones I've learned while at these workshops.

In the sunny weather, we went outside to the Strathcona garden to pick some dandelion and plantain leaves. The dandelion was to eat as a snack while the plantain leaves were used to make a poultice. To be honest, I didn't really like the dandelion leaves. While the ones we picked were really green and fresh, I found the leaves to be too bitter. However, there were many among us that did enjoy the fresh dandelion leaves and found them delicious. For the people that read this blog, I do suggest you try some for yourselves as you may enjoy them. For the plantain leaves, we used it to make a poultice, basically a bandage. We tore up the leaves into pieces and mashed it up while adding a bit of water. The poultice is effective for cuts and open wounds, having some antibacterial effects as well as closing cuts up. We applied it to Samantha's cat scratch wound and apparently, it was very effective in reducing the size of the wound. We also finished our tinctures by bottling them. It was quite difficult straining the garlic tincture since we had cut it very finely but the oregon grape tincture was easier to strain. The smell of the garlic tincture was breathtaking however. I can't really describe the scent but I assure that all garlic lovers will love to have a whiff of the tincture. Some people even took the strained garlic bits back home, either to make another batch or to use it in their home cooking. I took home a bottle of the oregon grape tincture since its supposed to "cleanse" your body.

Next week will be the last session of our workshop and we'll each be presenting on a herb we like. I'll be doing a presentation on oregano, one of my favorite cooking herbs. We'll also be ending our workshop with a potluck party so I'm excited to see what everyone will be cooking. Each of the dish will feature a main herb ingredient so I'm anticipating the different foods that people will be making. I think I'll be making a pasta dish featuring oregano so hopefully it'll turn out okay. Will update again next week!

Pictures here!

Natural Medicine in the City Day 3

Last week, we completed our salve by adding in beeswax to "thicken up" the poplar bud oil infusion. We also explored the community garden to identify plants and collected some lemon balm. At the end of the day, we did a bit of acting to describe how different herbs can be used on different ailments.

We finished off our salve by adding beeswax pellets to the heated poplar bud infusion. The solidifying process quite interesting. As the pellets were melting, I thought we needed to add more since the mixture wasn't solidifying much. However, turns out that once the mixture starts cooling, it really begins to solidify. Lucky I wasn't in charge of adding the pellets, otherwise our salve would've been concrete hard!

While the salve was cooling, we walked out to the garden to identify some useful plants and collected lemon balm. There was a lot of lemon balm in the garden so we were able to harvest to our content. We were also greeted by a very enthusiastic and happy Chinese lady that gave us each a budding seed. We're not sure what sort of plant it is yet but hopefully someone will plant theirs and let us know what it is.

To end the day, we were organized into pairs to come up with a skit that identified skin and respiratory conditions and how we can use herbalism to help. My partner and I did one on eczema. The idea for our skit was how my friend has eczema and I couldn't bear being around him since he smelled and was dressed in ridiculously baggy cloths. I offered him some herbalism advice and after a week, he looked better and didn't smell anymore. I had a good time doing that skit and I think the group enjoyed it as well.

That's all for last week and will update again after today's workshop!

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Natural Medicine in the City Day 2

New day, new stuff to do in our workshop on herbalism. We began the day by heating the oil infusion we made last week on our lovely fireplace in the Eco Pavilion. Then we looked at various plants that we can find in the garden and use in herbalism. Finally, we made a hair wash and strained the poplar bud infusion that we will use next week to complete the salve.

I was late at the workshop so by the time I arrived, the oil infusion was already being heated on the fireplace. The smell from the poplar bud infusion was amazing however and brought a nice scent to the room as it slowly heated up. As the infusion was heating, we went outside to find common plants that can be used in herbalism. This week, we were partnered up and sent on a treasure hunt to identify and collect a plant in the garden. My partner and I were responsible for collecting dandelion which turned out to be the "super-plant" of the day. The other plants that were collected were plantain, garlic, oregon grape, sumach, violet and bay laurel. I was actually very surprised at how useful dandelion was. Personally, I grew up hating dandelion as it was the "hard to kill" weed in the family garden that my parents and I attempted to remove multiple times yet never really succeeded. It was also very common and quite frankly, everywhere. That was why I was so surprised to find that dandelion could be used in herbalism, let alone turn out to have so many different uses. I learned that the entire plant could be used and was actually full of vitamins and minerals. Leaves could be used as a salad green and the roots could be used to make a dandelion tea as well. As part of this activity, we drew a human figure on a piece of paper and identified which parts of the human body that the plant can be used on. By the end of the activity, our human figure was quite decorated and covered with arrows and colours that showed where each plant can work on.

The last activity of the day was to make our bay laurel hair rinse. This was surprisingly simple as it only required a pot of water, heating it with crumpled pieces of bay leaves and mixing it with some apple cider vinegar. I have yet to use my hair wash but I will try it once I bring it home. The next part of the activity was to strain the poplar buds from the oil infusion. We waited for the oil to cool first and then using cheese cloth, the buds were strained from the oil. It was to say the least, a very messy task and the oil did spill onto the table. The infusion was also quite sticky as well. However, we were able to collect our jar of infusion that we will use next week to make our salve.

It was a good workshop as we worked towards completing our salve and also made a hair rinse. I enjoyed the treasure hunt and was quite surprised at the number of common plants that I could use in herbalism, as well as how effective they were. Of course, I was particularly surprised at the healing powers of dandelion, a plant I used to hate. Now I can see dandelion in a different light, and not as a nuisance in the garden. Can't wait till the next workshop!

Natural Medicine in the City Day 1

The earliest example of herbalism was traced back as far as the 33rd century B.C. An ice man from 3300 B.C. was found with fungus in his pocket and parasites in his intestines. Studies later showed that the fungus in his pocket contained medicinal qualities that could kill the parasites. Over 5000 years later, herbalism is still practiced around the world and is the primary source of medicine for over 2/3 of the world's population. Over the course of the seven workshops, we will learn about herbalism and practice some recipes to make our own home remedies and teas. In our first workshop, we made our infusion that we will later be using in our salve. In addition, we also talked about the history of herbalism, practiced a little sensory exercise and discussed some basic guidelines for practicing herbalism.

The sensory activity we did was an exercise to practice feeling the environment using our senses of hearing, smell and taste. We performed this exercise in the Strathcona Community Garden. We stood/sat around a garden plot with our eyes closed and took a few minutes to absorb the environment around us. By focusing on our senses other than sight, we were able to hear/smell/taste things more clearly. It was an interesting activity to do as I felt better connected to the environment and was able to feel the air around us. We then began to harvest poplar buds to make our oil infusion.

Before practicing herbalism, there are some general guidelines that practitioners should be aware of. The most important rule is to know what you are doing. Herbalism can be dangerous if the practitioner is unsure of plant identification or dosage. In addition, interactions with other herbs and/or pharmaceuticals can occur, leading to unexpected problems. First time practitioners should consult with someone knowledgeable or do plenty of research to understand what you are doing. When in doubt, do not ingest anything. Either ask someone or test it on your lips before consuming (if applicable).

To make our infusion, we gathered about half a glass jar full of Cottonwood buds. We harvested them from Cottonwood trees in the garden. The buds should be tight and pointy and have a very aromatic scent. A good way of harvesting poplar buds is to scour the ground under the tree for broken branches. Branches are often broken off after windstorms and the buds on them are often still fresh. For the infusion, we covered the half jar of buds with grape seed oil. It’s important that the buds are completely covered with oil to avoid the buds from molding. In the original recipe, the jar should be completely full of oil to avoid aeration but we tried it with only ¾ full since the poplar buds will expand. This method of making the oil infusion is called the “folk” method which does not require heating. For the rest of the week, the poplar bud will soak in the oil creating the oil infusion. In the next workshop, we will continue making the salve with our poplar oil infusion. More to come then!

More Photos Here!