Wise Woman Herbal Ezine ~ July 10, 2012

To read the entire Wise Woman Herbal Ezine filled with photos and a recipe, visit: http://wisewomanherbalezine.com/july10-2012/index.html

Weed Walk
July 10, 2012
Welcome.

It sure is getting hot, isn’t it? The plants continue to bloom and make themselves available to us, though drought, combined with July’s heat, is making many of them limp. The mint family has lots of members indigenous to the hot, dry lands around the Mediterranean Sea, so they are our focus this week: hardy, helpful plants that get better and more medicinal the hotter and drier their growing conditions. Bring a hat, we’ll be in the sun for this walk!
Many mint family plants grow in the city, especially self-heal. So don’t count yourself out if your meadow is a vacant lot and you have to harvest from the roadside. City herbs/weeds are safe and useful. (And we would love to have you come and share some Catskill Mountain countryside, and country weeds, with us, too.) You will find heal-all by the dumpster in the ally, along the paths in the parks, and in a wide variety of city settings. In the country, self-heal, because it is quite tolerant of shade and damp, will run a bit into the forest before the canopy shades it out.
Let’s harvest some blooming self-heal here, from the lawn, to make an all-heal, heal-all ointment. And let’s put some in our salad too. Yes, the entire flower head is nutty-tasting and tender despite its bristly appearance.
Next week we’ll focus on another group of girls who love it hot: the enchanting nightshade family.
Wishing you lots of juicy july-icious green blessings.
Susun

Visit: http://wisewomanherbalezine.com/july10-2012/index.html