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January 7, 2025

Happy Herbal Wednesday!

Have you thought about your goals and resolutions for this year? I haven't had a moment to even consider what mine will be, but I do know that I want to continue working on my health, just like most of us, right?

I'm reading a book called the 12 Week Year by Brian Moran (afflink), and his promise is that you can get the same goals done in just 12 weeks as you can in a year if you plan and execute right. These are like 90 day sprints, and I've done them before in other programs, but not successfully, to be honest.

So, I'm going to try once again!

My two big goals are to finish the application process for our school to be approved by two professional aromatherapy organizations (with certifications being retroactive) and to get all the study done for my clinical aromatherapy studies outside of my case studies.

Oh, and I also want to finish my certification in Botanical Perfumes and get at least 1/4 of the way through my Skincare Diploma studies. And...I want to finally get the product shop up and running and schedule some live classes in our classroom here on the property. And start seeds for the gardens. And forage for nettles when the time comes. And take a few long walks in the forest and maybe build some fairy houses out there for my grandkids. And finish the final edit copy of the book I finished in November, which is to be published this year. And get a group coaching program up and running, which has been a goal (and a promise to some) for the past three years. And continue to run this business and school at a very high level. And take a trip to visit my father, who is in his 90's, which is vitally important. And visit my daughter in her new place. I feel a little crazy.....

Um.... I think I need to rethink this goal-setting thing.

I used to beat myself up about my seriously unfocused crazy-brain, but no more!

Instead, I am choosing to be grateful that I love to learn, that I am NEVER bored and without something useful to do, and that I have a brain that works. Because who knows how long this will last? 🥰 😂

This week I'm busy adding just a few more instructional videos to our Aromatherapy Specialist Certification course, and it's been so fun. I just love working with essential oils--they truly help with emotional and mental health and care.

One of these videos is about eucalyptus essential oil.

Did you know there are several species commonly used in aromatherapy? The most common one is Eucalyptus globulus, and WHEW! It is definitely powerful.

This is due to a chemical found in very high amounts in eucalyptus (E. globulus) called 1,8-cineole, which has amazing benefits for the respiratory system, immune system, and others... However there's a LOT of scary information on the online webs about using it safely or whether or not it can be used with children.

In the new video below, I address these concerns and also share all the things to know about this amazing essential oil:

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And please like, subscribe, and share if you can. It means the world to us!

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Along the lines of more "scary" herbal information....

A student asked a question in our community recently because she is reading a new herbalism/homestead book on the market, and the author mentioned that elderberry shouldn't be used daily. Or long term. Or something like this, as I haven't read the book myself.

So let's talk elderberry for a moment, in case you're worried about it.

First of all, elderberries are considered a "food" herb, meaning they can be eaten as a food can be eaten. Daily, if you like, in normal food-type amounts. Some people are concerned about the seeds, which contain small amounts of cyano-glycosides, but these don't cause issues for most people unless a huge amount of raw berries or leaves are eaten.

Most people choose to cook the berries in some way, as in elderberry syrup, but I personally love using the berries dried in a tincture form.

This means that you can most likely be just fine taking a spoonful (or a dropper if in tincture form) or two a day.

(I'll talk about contraindications in a moment.)

Personal Experience:

When I was a little girl, our family went to the nearby mountains and hiked around searching for elderberries every single Labor Day weekend because this is when they ripened. We would gather as many as we could, which ended up being a large grocery bag or two.

Then, we came home, and we made LOTS of elderberry jam (which is basically solid syrup).

We ate this jam almost every day, sometimes more than once a day, until it ran out, which was usually late spring. It was and still is my favorite jam in the whole world.

I thought about this when I read my student's question.

As a little girl, I ate a ton of elderberry jam pretty much on the daily, for months. And this was year after year. And I was not harmed. Nor were any members of my family.

The good news is that we were consuming that jam during the fall and winter and early spring months, when cold and flu season is in full force. Isn't that interesting?

I know now that God made those elderberries just for us, so we could stay well during cold and flu season....naturally.

Eating seasonally is a great idea!

So, with elderberry, I have personal experienced proof that it is just fine to consume it in food like or small dosages consistently, for the long-term, especially seasonally.

My experience is backed up by many experienced "old-timey" herbalists, too.

Now. If you're relying on AI (ChatGPT, as an example) or Google to give you your herbal information, I am very sorry, but you're missing out on a huge and important aspect of learning herbalism...and that is actual experience through practice as well as having a live herbalist to talk with.

We all know that internet herbal information is chock full of scary warnings and is often very pro-modern medicine (which means anti-herbalism) info.

I found it ironic when I did a little search, that AI said that "elderberry hasn't been studied enough to know whether it is safe for consistent daily use."

And then the thought popped into my head....what about drugs and "other things" that are (sometimes) forced into us that haven't been well-studied to determine safety? What about these?

*Sigh*

But I digress.

I promised you I would talk about contraindications for taking elderberry.

So, if you have an auto-immune issue, then it's likely that you know if you're going to have a response to elderberry or not because if you have taken it and it has affected your immune response, then your body may put up some red flags. These may include reactions such as nausea or flu-like symptoms or rashes, etc.

This doesn't happen with every body who struggles with an auto-immune issue, though. So pay attention to your own unique and special constitution and body. Stop taking it if you experience negative physical reactions of any kind.

And if you're concerned, just be sure to cook them, as this deactivates any cyano-glycoside action.

It's just common sense.

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Do you have my guide to the Five Best Herbs for Your Home Apothecary?

Well, if you don't have it, you're invited to come to my free herbalism training on this topic, where we'll discuss what a home apothecary is, and focus on the five herbs I've chosen. I could have chosen hundreds to be honest, but these five are herbs everyone is familiar with and can be found in your local grocery store.

The guide is FREE and so is the workshop.

​You can sign up here.​

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Well, this note has gotten quite a lot longer than I had planned, with my ramblings today.

I hope you have a wonderful week, and I'm so grateful to you for being here as part of our Healing Harvest Homestead community.

Hugs, Health, and Herbs,

Heidi

P.S. Don't forget to register (free) for the Five Best Herbs for Your Home Apothecary coming up soon!

May.....

‘“The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;
the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.”’

---Numbers 6:24-26

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