HERBS, BEES and YUMMI TEAS: Ingredients Worthy of YOUR Time

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Ingredients Worthy of YOUR Time

New posters @ Mountain Rose Herbs

If you are going to spend your time making home made products, then you should have the best ingredients to use in them. I have bought supplies from about 8 different places that have ingredients to make soap, lotions, toners, cleansers, candles, gift bags, colorants, smells, containers and other home products. One thing to know is that one place never has everything you will need at one time. It just never works out that way for me. This is why I have several companies I buy from.

My selection of Mountain Rose Herbs products.

Mountain Rose Herbs seems to be the household name for herbalists. I see that name on almost every blog I read or Facebook article on natural home made products. They have a vast array of essential oils, many butters, organic ingredients for any illness, teas from faraway lands, containers, books on creating homemade products, spices and so much more with a variety of sizes you can buy. From a large amount for a business to the smaller amounts for the home maker who wants to do for her family. Or Even if you have a small home based business, this is the supplier for you. They have their own farms and fields right here in Lane County, Oregon, along with wildcrafting for some ingredients. Very talented and knowledgeable people work there who are concerned about the Earth. I am very lucky that this company is in my back yard, so to speak. They are in Eugene, OR and I live here also. I usually buy from the ordering site they have online. I go and pick it up the next day at the office of Mountain Rose Herbs. I save the postage. I also get to chat at them and see what finds they have in the lobby. Last time I got a magazine with lots of herbal info in it. Mother Earth News.

Great Magazine for Herbal Living
and Healthy Living.

Glory Bee Foods in Eugene is one of the places I go to get some of my ingredients as they have a completely different list of supplies. They are a food company also. Aunt Patty's is the name of their food line. Great products! Natural supplements in bulk and retail. They sell organic honey and bee products. They sell hives and the equipment to have your own bees. The great folks who work there are very knowledgeable about bees, their habitat and living conditions. Ask them anything about bees! They have many great essential oils, beeswax, aloe, butters, molds, colorants, smells, and many base oils, like sweet almond oil, jojoba oil, apricot kernel oil and the list goes on. Books, mixes, honey and honey products, all in the store. They have vast online wholesale organic food business. They moved to out on Hwy 99 going to Junction City, just after Beltline, one light and they are on the left. I will be working on getting my own hives and bees soon. It is on the wanted list. Just as the chicken coop and chickens are. This Summer! Any questions, let me know.

I wanted to be able to find smaller quantities for some of these different herbs and I knew they were not anywhere I shopped. So I decided to go on a hunt and I finally found them at Sundance Natural Foods by 24th and Hilyard in Eugene, OR. You can buy Mountain Rose bulk herbs and teas at Sundance Natural Foods. They have the largest supply of organic herbal products I have found so far. This is what you need when buying organic. There is also someone there to help you with any questions you have about tinctures, herbal formulas and vitamins. Whatever the question, this man knows the answer. I am very impressed with their store and their assortment of organic and all natural foods. As you know, it is hard to find food that doesn't have some kind of ingredient that is bad for you. This is why ," if we want to be healthy we need to change how we eat, what we eat and when we eat it." This is my new motto on eating correctly and losing those unneeded pounds.

I have spent the last five year perfecting what I know about herbs and medicinal plants. Also how they grow, flower and dry. It has been a lot of work, but well worth it. This year two large trees that hung over my yard were removed and now I will have so much more sun in my back yard. Also the mold and wet moss will go away mostly. It is hard to keep it all under control and from not killing the plants. This year I am planting more flowers for the bees. I have several more bushes that flower. The lilac will flower for the first time this year. I am happy that I have so many medicinal plants coming back year after year now. I am always thinning, so if you are interested in anything, let me know. It is that time. I am about to cut the Daphne Any takers? Daphne is a flowering bush that you take cuttings from while it is flowering. It has light green leaves, two tone sometimes. It flowers in February and has the most fragrant flowers.

The Elder Bush flowering.

Elderberries almost ripe.

This weekend I took my elderberry cuttings and potted them in one gallon containers. I probably have around 20-25 plants. They are actually large bushes if you let them go. I will be having some for others, so let me know if you are interested in any. I will be planting several bushes, and several in large pots to move around for the best light. I think elder is a great medicinal plant and I am centering what I do around it. To do that I must have my own elder berries and elder flowers.

I am accepting any recipes about elderberries and flowers. I want to find the best recipes for me to use for medicine and body products. I will be putting a few recipes on here to share with you in exchange. Any recipes for pest repellents? I grew up with elderberries in my life. We made elderberry jelly, wine, syrup and froze them for winter use. My mom made the wine and I was told it was great every time. Her friends liked it. I need to find a large crock and a few other accessories for this year to make my own.

Here is a great soup recipe that I think would warm any cold afternoon.

Vegetable Soup

1 14 oz can organic chicken or veggie broth

1 11.5 oz can vegetable-tomato juice cocktail (store brand is great)

1 small red potato, diced

1 small red yam, diced

2 carrots, sliced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 can of petite diced tomatoes, small can

1/2 cup green beans, snapped fresh

1/4 cup frozen corn

1 small zucchini, diced

1/2 tsp. onion pieces or bits or granules

1 cup organic green tea

1 can red beans

1/2 cup rice egg noodles or macaroni noodles

1/2 tsp. basil

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp marjoram

salt and pepper to taste

Make sure when you are cutting all the veggies to make them the same size as it helps with everything being cooked just right. Add all the ingredients in a stock pot. Bring to a boil and turn down and let simmer for around 27-32 minutes or when the veggies are tender to a fork.

Tip: Red potatoes stay together when put into soups and stews. they don't fall apart like the white ones do.

*Add some garlic bread made with rye bread, mix butter, garlic and Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top and broil to brown. (keep an eye on it)

Enjoy, have a marvelous lunch with a spot of wine. Or dinner!

Organic Retail and Bulk Ingredients, Teas and
Products @ Mountain Rose Herbs,
here in Eugene, Oregon.

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The Elder is Herb of the Year 2013

COMMON ELDERBERRY, from plants.usda.gov

Sambucus nigra L. ssp. canadensis (L.) R. Bolli

Plant Symbol = SANIC4

Contributed by: USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center & the Biota of North America Program

Alternate Names

Arizona elderberry, American elder, sweet elder, wild elder, flor sauco, tree of music, Dane wort, Wale wort, New Mexican elderberry, velvet-leaf elder, hairy blue elderberry, and dwarf elder. Taxonomically, there have been recent changes in this elderberry species. It was previously divided into Sambucus coriacea, Sambucus orbiculata, Sambucus velutina, and Sambucus caerulea (Munz 1968). This species is known in some floras as Sambucus mexicana.

Uses

Ethnobotanic: Only the blue or purple berries of elderberry are edible. Edible berries and flower are used for medicine, dyes for basketry, arrow shafts, flute, whistles, clapper sticks, and folk medicine. The active alkaloids in elderberry plants are hydrocyanic acid and sambucine. Both alkaloids will cause nausea so care should be observed with this plant. Elderberries are high in Vitamin C. The red berries of other species are toxic and should not be gathered.

The wood is hard and has been used for combs, spindles, and pegs, and the hollow stems have been fashioned into flutes and blowguns.

Elderberries are quite edible. The blue or purple berries are gathered and made into elderberry wine, jam, syrup, and pies. The entire flower cluster can be dipped in batter and fried while petals can be eaten raw or made into a fragrant and tasty tea. The flowers add an aromatic flavor and lightness to pancakes or fritters.

The elderberry is of well-known value to the Indians of North America and the many purposes it serves (Barrow 1967). Elderberry is highly prized by both Spaniards and Cahuillas. Throughout the months of July and August the small clusters of berries are gathered in large quantities. These clusters are dried carefully on the drying floor and preserved in considerable amounts. When wanted, they are cooked into a rich sauce that needs no sweetening. A Cahuilla family during this season of the year will subsist largely on these messes of "sauco." Frequently, the elderberry was so greatly enjoyed that families would live for weeks on little else. Many were dried for use in the winter, and were either re-cooked or eaten raw. Elderberries are still highly prized for food by modern Indian people.

Elderberry twigs and fruit are employed in creating dyes for basketry. These stems are dyed a very deep black by soaking them for a week or so in a wash made from the berry stems of the elderberry (Barrows 1967). The Cahuilla split basketry materials from the aromatic sumac (Rhus trilobata).

Elderberry branches were used to make the shaft of arrows. Flutes and whistles were constructed by boring holes into stems hollowed out with hot sticks. Clapper sticks were made by splitting the stem and clapping the two halves against each other. Clapper sticks were used ceremonially in the round-house to accompany singing and dancing. The pith of the stems was used as tinder, and the stem itself was employed as a twirling stick for starting the fire. Hollowed-out elderberry stems can be made into squirt guns.

In the middle ages elderberry was considered a Holy Tree, capable of restoring good health, keeping good health, and as an aid to longevity.

Fruits of elderberry are gathered from the wild for wine, jellies, candy, pies, and sauces. The plants are commercially cultivated for fruit production in

Botany Dept., NMNH, Smithsonian Institution

@ PLANTS

Oregon. Sambucus canadensis and S. nigra have long been used in the same way, and cultivars of both have been developed. All parts of the elderberry plant are considered to be a valuable healing plant in many folk medicine traditions (Hutchens 1991, Walker et al. 1993; Barrett et al. 1933; Clarke 1977). Elderberry flowers contain flavonoids and rutin, which are known to improve immune function, particularly in combination with vitamin “C.” The flowers also contain tannins, which account for its traditional use to reduce bleeding, diarrhea, and congestion.

The flowers are the mildest part of the plant and prepared as a tea, are used to break dry fevers and stimulate perspiration, aid headache, indigestion, twitching eyes, dropsy, rheumatism, appendix inflammation, bladder or kidney infections, colds, influenza, consumption (bleeding in lungs), and is helpful to newborn babies (Hutchens 1991). Used as a wash, the flowers or leaves are good for wounds, sprains, and bruises, as well as for sores on domestic animals. The leaves, which are stronger, have a slightly laxative property. Applied externally, leaves, flowers, bark and twigs are excellent as a poultice, mixed equally with chamomile, for soreness, inflammations, joint stiffness, and to reduce the swelling of bee stings. The flowers and berries, employed as a diuretic, can aid arthritis and rheumatism. Steeped in water, the flowers are used externally to aid in complexion beauty, tone and soften the skin, and lighten freckles or spots. The berry juice made into salve aids burns and scalds. The juice taken internally will act as a purgative.

Livestock: Elderberry is a useful range plant for domestic livestock, but is not equally palatable during all seasons. It is usually receives limited browsing in the spring and to a much greater extent in the late summer and fall. The leaves are eagerly devoured after the first heavy frost in the fall. Because many branches are beyond the reach of the animals, utilization is less destructive. Browse rating: Good for goats; good to fair for sheep; good to poor for deer; fair for cattle; and fair to poor for horses (Sampson and Jesperson 1981).

Wildlife: Structurally complex riparian vegetation communities provide many different habitats and support a diverse array of animal species. Different groups of animals occupy or use the different layers of vegetation, and this multi-story arrangement is often present nowhere else in the arid landscapes. Canopies of plants growing on stream banks provide shade, cooling stream water, while roots stabilize and create overhanging banks, providing habitat for fish and other aquatic organisms.

Game birds, squirrels and other rodents, and several kinds of browsers also feed on the fruit or foliage of elderberry. Bears love to eat the elderberry fruits while deer, elk, and moose browse on the stems and foliage. The elderberries are important sources of summer food for many kinds of songbirds. For example, the western bluebird, indigo bunting, common house finch, red-shafted flicker, ash-throated flycatcher, black-headed grosbeak, scrub jay, Stellar jay, ruby-crowned kinglet, mockingbird, red-breasted nuthatch, Bullock’s oriole, hooded oriole, song sparrow, white-crowned sparrow, western tanager, California thrasher, russet-backed thrush, brown towhee, Audubon warbler, cedar waxwing, Lewis and Nuttall's woodpecker, wren-tit, grouse, pheasant, and pigeons all eat elderberries (Martin et al. 1951).

The valley elderberry longhorn beetle (VELB) (Desmocerus californicus dimorphus) was listed as threatened under The Endangered Species Act on August 8, 1980. The elderberry beetle is endemic to moist valley oak riparian woodlands along the margins of rivers and streams in the lower Sacramento and upper San Joaquin Valley of California where elderberry grows. The primary threat to the VELB is loss of habitat, insecticide and herbicide use, and lack of elderberry shrubs/trees as a food plant for the beetle. The mitigation for VELB habitat loss, considered a taking under The Endangered Species Act, is quite stringent (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Mitigation Guidelines).

In general, longhorn beetles are characterized by somewhat elongate and cylindrical bodies with long antennae, often in excess of 2/3 of the body length. Male VELB have a metallic-green pattern of 4 oblong maculations, surrounded by a bright red-orange border. The body length is about 13-21 mm, and antennae are about a long as the body. Females are more robust, with body length about 18-25 mm, and the dark pattern is not reduced.

Elderberry is planted because of its forage and cover value, productivity, adaptability, and ease of establishment. It is a useful ground cover for stabilizing stream banks and eroding sites. It provides food, cover, perching, and nesting sites for many species of birds and food and cover for various other wildlife, and it is important as browse for mule deer and elk. In the spring the leaves may be strongly scented and less palatable, but they sweeten and become more palatable by fall.

Status

Please consult the PLANTS Web site and your State Department of Natural Resources for this plant’s current status, such as, wetland indicator values.

Description

General: Honeysuckle family (Caprifoliaceae). Native shrubs growing 2-4(-8) m tall, less commonly small single-stemmed trees, young twigs soft and pithy but the wood hard; bark thin, grayish to dark brown, irregularly furrowed and ridged. The pinnately compound leaves are deciduous, opposite, about 15-35 cm long, odd-pinnate with (3-)5-9 serrate leaflets 2-15 cm long, often with a long stalk, often asymmetrical at the base. Elderberry leaves, especially on seedlings or shrub-sized plants (without fruits or flowers) resemble California walnut (Juglans hindsii) and Oregon ash (Fraxinus latifolia). The inflorescence is flat-topped, 4-20(-30) cm across, broader than high; flowers bisexual, the corollas small, white to cream, rotate, 5-lobed, with a pleasant, yet slightly rancid odor. Fruit is berry-like, 5-6 mm wide, with 3-5 nutlets, blue- to purple-black at maturity with a white-waxy bloom and appearing powder blue. The common name “elder” is from the Anglo-Saxon “ellen,” meaning fire-kindler, the dry, pithy stems; blue from the fruit color.

Distribution: Common elderberry is common along stream banks, river banks, and open places in riparian areas lower than < 3000 m. From west Texas north to Montana, western Alberta, and southern British Columbia, and all other western states, south into northwest Mexico. For current distribution, please consult the Plant Profile page for this species on the PLANTS Web site.

Habitat

Elderberry grows on moist, well-drained sunny sites, usually occurring in early seral communities or in openings in moist forest habitats (slopes, canyons, cliff bases, streamsides, streambanks) and moist areas within drier, more open habitats (sagebrush, mountain brush, pinyon-juniper, ponderosa pine, often along fence rows and roads); at elevations of 3-3000 meters.

Adaption

Elderberry is a dominant understory species in riparian woodlands. It can persist past seral stages as scattered individuals in open forests, woodlands, chaparral, or riparian zones. This species flowers from May to September and fruits from July to October. Common elderberry is more common on warmer sites than red elderberry (Sambucus racemosa), although they overlap in habitat preference.

In California, common riparian woodland associates are valley oak (Quercus lobata), interior live oak (Quercus wislizenii), California walnut (Juglans hindsii), and California sycamore (Platanus racemosa). Box elder (Acer negundo), Oregon ash (Fraxinus latifolia), alder (Alnus rhombifolia), and willow (Salix gooddingii, Salix exigua, Salix lasiandra, and Salix laevigata) are particularly prevalent in the subcanopy. Understory species are mostly shrubs, including elderberry (Sambucus mexicana), buttonbush (Cephalanthus occidentalis), blackberry (Rubus spp.), and California rose (Rosa californica). Lianas, such as poison oak (Toxicodendron diversiloba) and California grape (Vitis californica) are a dominant feature. Herbaceous vegetation is 1% cover except in openings where tall forbs may occur.

Establishment

Elderberry produces a good seed crop almost every year. The seeds are dispersed by birds and other animals that eat the fruit. The seeds have a hard seed coat and embryo dormancy and may remain viable for up to 16 years in storage. Without pretreatment, seed germination may be delayed from 2 to 5 years after planting. Plants may flower and fruit after only 2-3 years and can reach full size in 3-4 years. They are said to be “short-lived.” Vegetative reproduction is limited to coppicing if the stems are killed or injured.

Management

In six riparian restoration projects carried out in California, competition from exotic weed species was a key factor in mortality and site failure (Baird 1989). On small sites, hand weeding around trees and shrubs is the most effective means of weed control. One way to avoid competition from weeds on larger sites is to remove the surface soil, although this has the disadvantage of removing nutrients, mycorrhizal fungi, bacteria, and insect and invertebrate populations critical to a healthy habitat. A cover crop of native wildflowers was also used to control weeds, with wildflower seeds hand-broadcast over the site. On wetter, heavier soils this does not seem to provide effective weed control.

There is considerable evidence that fertilization can favor exotic weeds over native plants. Inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi enables seedlings of some species to better utilize limited supplies of both water and nutrients. Inoculation of transplanted shrubs may be accomplished through inclusion of large (1.2 m

deep by 2.8 m wide) root balls with plants. Smaller, more economical soil plugs scattered throughout the site serve the same purpose. The number of soil plugs needed to ensure the establishment of soil flora is directly related to the distance of the restoration site from a similar, mature community.

Given that elderberry provides habitat for the federally listed valley longhorn elderberry beetle, livestock grazing of elderberry is not recommended. Livestock grazing can alter vegetative structure and composition of riparian habitat. Overgrazing by livestock and big game frequently changes plant species composition and growth form, density of stands, vigor, seed production of plants, and insect production.

Seed and Plant Production

Seeds:

• Elderberry grows best from seed.

• Elderberry fruits are collected when ripe and spread in thin layers to dry.

• To separate seeds from fruits either 1)run fruit through a macerator with water and the pulp and empty seeds float; 2) crush, dry and use without separating fruits and seeds; and 3) for small amounts of fruit they can be cleaned in a fruit blender.

• Elderberry seed can be stored dry at 41 °F for several years.

• Elderberry seeds can be sown in the fall soon after collection, or stratified and sown in the spring. In either case, germination is often not complete until the second spring.

• A seedling density of 35 plants per square foot is sought. Seeds are sown 1/4 inch deep in drills and covered with about 3/8 inch of sawdust mulch.

• In the greenhouse, seeds are warm stratified for two months in a mixture of peat, vermiculite, and sand at 21° to 30°C; (70 to 85°F). Seeds are then placed close to the soil surface in flats in the greenhouse. There are usually several hundred seeds in one seed flat.

• Seedlings are then potted from the flats in deep 3" pots.

• After one season of growth, the seedlings are field planted in the fall or spring when they are 6 to 8 months old. If planted in the fall irrigation may not be necessary in moist sites. In drier sites or with spring planting, irrigation will be required for seedling establishment.

Cuttings:

• Cuttings of elderberry tend to have lower survival success than establishment from seed.

• Use hardwood cuttings from previous seasons growth.

• Take "heel cuttings" from older wood, so inner pith is not exposed.

• Cuttings should be at least 10", and have at least two nodes. Cuttings are placed in 4" pots with perlite and peat. Plants are kept moist.

• Cuttings have a fragile root system, with high mortality occurring when transplanted. Care should be taken to be very gentle with delicate roots when transplanting.

• The cuttings, which do survive, seem to establish and grow faster. Plant biomass production, height, flowering and seed set is more rapid than with seedlings.

Transplanting Trees and Stems: All elderberry plants with evidence of valley elderberry longhorn beetle use (i.e. emergence holes or presence of adults) should be transplanted, as they provide habitat for a threatened species under The Endangered Species Act. For further technical information, call a representative of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Cut tree back to 3 to 6 feet from the ground or to 50 percent of its height (whichever is greater) by removing branches and stems above this height. The trunk and all stems greater than 1.5 inches in diameter can be replanted. If the presence of tunnels excavated by the beetle larvae inside the elderberry stem and trunk are detected, place pruned material next to transplanted elderberries. Move plant by the root ball. Keep the root ball wet. Place transplant in holes 3 to 4 feet deep. Construct circular water retention basin from the excavated earth about 8-10 feet in diameter and 12 to 14 inches high. Plant the main trunk of an elderberry in the center of each water basin. Plant other stems that have been rooted around the circumference of the basin. Saturate soil with water. Irrigate as necessary, especially through first growing season.

Clear-cutting or seed tree cutting with high soil disturbance sometimes favors the development of elderberry in a seral community. It recovers well from heavy grazing in the Great Basin. For use in site stabilization or rehabilitation, seeds may be planted directly or seedlings and 1-2-year old stock may be transplanted. It also grows from transplanted seedlings, cuttings, and rootstocks.

Thanks to the plant site @ http://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/cs_sanic4.pdf

GLORY BEE FOODS IN EUGENE

GloryBee Foods offers Aunt Patty’s Organic Coconut Sugar and Organic Honey Crystals

2.10.2011 Eugene, OR—GloryBee Foods announced today that Aunt Patty’s Organic Coconut Sugar and Organic Honey Crystals are now available in retail jars.

Organic Coconut Sugar is made from sap collected from the freshly cut flower buds of organic coconut palm trees grown on small, sustainable farms. The collection of the sap is known as “tapping” and has been practiced for centuries throughout the Pacific Islands. Once a coconut tree has been tapped, its sap can flow continuously for decades, resulting in a sustainable harvest.

After harvesting, the sap is then slowly boiled and evaporated by hand in small batches. The cooled syrup is then broken up into free-flowing, naturally sweet granules. This minimal processing is done without the aid of sophisticated equipment such as vacuum evaporators and does not require any additives or enzymes. Coconut sugar has a lower glycemic index than refined cane sugar and is naturally gluten free. Aunt Patty’s Organic Coconut Sugar can be substituted cup for cup in any recipe that calls for cane sugar.

Aunt Patty’s Organic Honey Crystals are made from organic honey and organic evaporated sugar cane. This free-flowing natural sweetener is instantly soluble and has a low moisture content. This product is ideal to use in recipes where a granulated sweetener is required and a honey flavor is desired. Aunt Patty’s Organic Honey Crystals can be substituted cup for cup in any recipe that calls for cane sugar.

Aunt Patty’s Organic Coconut Sugar and Organic Honey Crystals are currently available both direct from GloryBee Foods and at natural food retailers throughout the Western United States , and through UNFI and Nature’s Best distributors.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Ingredients Worthy of YOUR Time

Vegetable Soup

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