WILD HARVESTING PLANTS, part 1 of 4

Wild harvesting

Learning to harvest your own weeds and herbs.

This is truly the way to go: fresh wild plants picked locally at their peak  will make the best remedies possible. Local plants will have a far great impact on your healing than herbs ordered in from a supplier, or herbs that are indigenous to another country.

The main problem comes from learning to identify them properly & not confusing a medicinal plant with another plant.

I offer weed walks during my herbalist classes to help my students learn to identify our local medicinal plants. We go out in spring, summer & fall to see the plants in each season.

If you are taking my herbalist course by distance, try to find someone offering a local weed walk.

Here’s some of the easier herbs to identify, although there may be look alikes. if you already have been on an herb walk with someone & feel comfortable identifying the plants, these pictures might help you remember some of the common plants you can harvest.

Dandelion leaves and root, 

Chickweed,

Plantain

LANCE LEAFED PLANTAIN

BROAD LEAFED PLANTAIN. 

Red Clover

horsetail

wild rose

burdock

yellow dock

Cleavers (it is sticky)

Mullein

more on wild harvesting on an upcoming post.
If you'd like to learn more about medicinal uses of herbs to use on yourself, friend, family, pets, or clients, take my 8 month distance learning herbalist course. Course work is posted on my forum. Much more info on my website. 
www.dragonflyherbals.com 


Or sign up her for the 8 month herbal, other herbal workshops held online, and reiki & chakra healing workshops:


http://dragonflyherbals.proboards.com/index.cgi

YOUR PERSONAL REIKI PRACTICE

Just added this section to my reiki forum:


As I always mention to my reiki students, use reiki on yourself for self improvement & self growth. Also this means taking time out of your busy life to give to yourself.


I wanted to use this thread for us to list a few ways in which we honor ourselves. What do you do to keep yourself in balance & to honor your intuitive side. I think that unless we find ways to honor ourselves & work on healing ourselves we will not be able to heal others.


Read more: http://dragonflyherbals.proboards.com/index.cgi

New herbal recipes on my forum

I am sharing some of my herbal recipes & other tidbits of herbal information on my herbal forum.

http://dragonflyherbals.proboards.com/index.cgi

Learning to make vibrations essences: distance workshop on my forum

Vibrational Essences

1.      Vibrational essences work in the same way that homeopathic remedies work. Vibrational essences are based on plants, gems or minerals. Each essence contains the vibration of the plants or other matter that it is made from and that vibration corresponds with particular emotional, physical and spiritual attributes.

2.      Vibrational essences are a form of very subtle healing that work on energy centres of the human body (or animals) balancing and harmonising energy flow. They are effective in removing negative thought patterns, blocked energy, negative emotions and releasing past traumas. Essences are effective in supporting and assisting people to move forward in more positive ways eg, with increased courage, clarity or peace of mind.

3.      Vibrational essences have subtle healing properties that restore balance on all levels of being: physical, emotional, mental & spiritual. They can be used to enhance personal development & are a powerful aid to transformation. They can help us to overcome old behavior problems & negative states of mind that may contribute to or cause disease, emotional imbalance & spiritual disharmony. Flower essences stimulate the body’s ability to heal by restoring balance to chakras & energy fields, releasing old thought patterns & emotions.

4.      Because Vibrational Essences work on a vibrational & energetic level they work well in between reiki sessions.

5.      To select remedies that are most useful to you at this time, read the descriptions about each essence & choose the ones that address key emotional, physical & psychological issues you are experiencing. Often intuition lead you to choose a particular essence. As many essences as you need can be combined in one formula.

6.      Essences are safe for humans & pets, & have no taste, and can be used with while using other medications or remedies.

I am going to offer a workshop on my forum on making vibrational essences, and learning to meditate on a plant & connect on a spiritual level to gain information on what an essence may be for. Please register on the forum for this & other workshops.

There is a section in my forum to get on my waiting list for this online course.

http://dragonflyherbals.proboards.com/index.cgi

JANUARY WALK IN THE WOODS, part 3 of 4

This is Usnea. I have been using it for immune system as well. I had been using it in infusions, but I collected enough to make a tincture.

This is a different type of lichen, you can see it is flatter. Usnea is round & when you pull it apart it has a tiny thread inside. Both kinds will often grow on the same bush. I find it most often on Ocean Spray shrubs.

This is lungwort. It doesn't grow on the ground, here's where it came from:

If you look way up in this maple, tree you can see lungwort growing on its trunk. I am able to harvest it when there

is a strong wind & some blows down. Or last year a raven was nicely making a little project out of clearing an

entire branch of a maple tree in yard. He came back each day & was very intent on getting every bit of moss

& lichen off the branch, so I had all kinds of lungwort tossed down to me. I have used it in rubbing alcohol along

with usnea for itchy skin conditions like eczema & acne. And I have used the lungwort in infusions for lung problems,

and right now I am making a tincture of it. It smells really earthy -- both the plant & the tincture. It seems to stay

happily green moist lying on the ground in our rainy weather, as soon as its brought inside it dries out very quickly.

It feels very much like toad skin.

This is a Barred Owl, he & his mate are in our yard frequently. They are very active during the winter & have their babies probably around this time of year. This photo was taken in the late spring. Sometimes we get to see one or both of them during the day.

One thing about having owls in the yard, they tend to wake you up in the middle of the night with a loud shriek.

They will also swoop out of the tree & knock you in the head if you are wandering around unsuspectingly!

Part 4 of this January walk in the woods will be posted in a few days.

If you have questions or comments on herbs, plants & remedies, please join my herbal forum.

http://dragonflyherbals.proboards.com/index.cgi

4 of us sending distance healing on the forum

We have a group of four of us sending each other distance healing on the reiki forum now. My students & I have found that many people sending reiki energy for a common purpose, in this case healing & manifesting goals, is very powerful! So nice to do when its difficult to get together in person.


Anyone else with at least level 1 reiki can join in at:

http://dragonflyherbals.proboards.com/index.cgi

JANUARY WALK IN THE WOODS, part 2 of 4

Yellow dock seeds. I harvest these in the early fall to put in infusions for immune system. They are easy to

harvest, you just slide your hand up the stem to collect them. However, there tend to be a lot of spiders on

the stems, might want to give the branch a shake first.

These 2 photos were taken in the summer. I did see several eagles today though, just didn't get a picture of them. They seemed to be doing a lot of aggressive flying around after each other today & later in the day 2 of them were chasing each other through my yard.

Wild roses & hips. I generally harvest the hips in the fall, they are pretty soggy at this time of year.

Rose hips. I actually prefer the rose petals over the hips. I make a rose petal tincture to use for pain relief that tastes wonderful.

Holly & its red berries.

Leave & a bit of ice. It is just cold enough for there to a bit of ice, although our snow from last week is gone.

Yellow cedar & snow from mid January. We went up on the trails & looked at all the little animal footprints in the snow. An easier way to know what kind of animals are walking about in the woods -- when you can see their footprints.

Red Cedar -- Thuja. I use the ends of the branches to make a tincture for immune system.

Part 3 of this January walk in the woods will be posted in a few days.

If you have questions or comments on herbs, plants & remedies, please join my herbal forum.

http://dragonflyherbals.proboards.com/index.cgi