Those First Few Steps

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I've been putting off learning how to make my own medicines for decades. I did get a tiny start back in the day, mostly learning how to identify wild plants. I also knew how to pluck some boneset to make tea for a summer or fall cold, rub plantain on a bug bite, slather possible exposures to poison ivy with jewelweed, and the like. I fancied I'd soon learn how to forage, dry, tincture and otherwise make better use of the many healing substances that line every step we take in nature.

But life happened, and I learned instead how to rely on others to do all that for me.

This year, like many of us, I had time on my hands. I finally got started on making my own medicinal substances. I don't have the dream collection yet, and I may never will, but I DO have my own collection of useful items. Maybe this post will inspire some other wanna be medicine makers to get off their duffs and begin making their own stuff too. A simple beginning can turn out to have been a giant step.

I make no claims at brilliance. This is not a guide on how to make or use anything. For that, there are far more knowledgeable persons than I, and instructions are easy to find online or right here in Natural Medicine.

This post is an abbreviated account of a beginning medicine woman's first year making medicines by, and for, herself. I'm really glad I got started, and I hope to do and learn a bit more this year. Little by little is better than not at all.

The best part? Every single task left me feeling joyful.

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Here is a photo of my grand total from 2020. I'm starting off 2021 with all this!!!

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First up, my three dried herbs, Mullein, Mugwort and Tobacco.

I used to have tons of mullein in my yard. I loved those large fuzzy leaves and tall spires of small, oddly spaced, yellow blossoms. It all disappeared for many years, regrettably. But this year I was again blessed with three first year whorls of leaves sometime in mid-summer, and I harvested them in their first year's fall, one of the plant's most medicinally potent periods I'm told. I nabbed it in September, hung it to dry in my kitchen, and there you see it all dried and stored on the right in the photograph below.

The mugwort came up in my front yard vegetable patch. I let it have its way, a carefree and glorious patch for my neighbors to wonder at. Just as most of it was blooming (prime potency time for mugwort, just before bloom), I grabbed a few handfuls that hadn't yet started to flower, hung those in my kitchen, and there you see it in the front bottle.

The tobacco I grew myself. It was a lousy crop, so I've labeled it "for external use only", and you'll soon see what the use is.

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Below is a shot of my tobacco drying. My rack was a rude affair of twine and wooden dowels, but how pretty is this? Those leaves were a wonder to watch curl up and brown over the next three months. Tobacco is a plant I would like to know much more about.

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Besides drying herbs, I made three tinctures.

Tinctures are extremely easy to make! Essentially, just mix the herbs with alcohol, let them sit for a while, strain them, and VOILA!

I made two different bug repellants: one from tobacco and peppermint, and the second one from oregano, peppermint, sage and mugwort. I grew all but the mugwort. The third tincture is an itch wash using jewelweed (touch me not) and plantain.

2021 will be the year I find out if they work. I'll let you know.

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I am not afraid of covid for myself. I have robust health and a brain in my head, and I am certain I would be among those who recover easily. But just in case I or someone I care about got sick with a flu-like illness, I purchased this collection of items that could prove useful.

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I now have ten jars of dried plants, three tinctures, and a Hive post that tells my tale.

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This concludes my post on my first year's collection of natural, minimally processed. and ready-if-and-when-I-need-them medicinal substances. I hope my post is of value to someone. I know that I enjoyed making it.
Thank you for reading it.
All photographs are mine own.

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I happen to be moving. Here are all those items all packed up. I just like the photo. Consider it a bonus.

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