Echinacea infusion

Echinacea infusion

This summer I tried echinacea infusion for sore throat and ear ache. According to botanists/herbalists, the medicinal properties of echinacea are concentrated on its roots, but I did not want to cut a piece of roots from blooming echinacea, so I harvested some flower tops, leaves, and stems. Also, experts suggest that echinacea should be taken as tincture (of fresh root) or tea (of dried flower tops, leaves, and stems) for herbal remedy, but I had neither form of echinacea handy, so I made infusion of fresh flower tops, leaves, and stems. The below is my notes for the experiment and the results. 

1. Rinsed harvested herb with water. Put 3 flower tops and 2 cups of chopped leaves and stems in a quart mason jar, poured boiling water over the herb until it filled up to the top of the jar, and closed the jar with a lid. 

2. Waited for 2 hours or so until the infusion turned golden brown. Sipped a teacupful, warm. It's hard to describe the flavor. Reminded me of Japanese twig tea. It's not bitter. 

3. Let the rest of the infusion sit for another 2 hours or so. Sipped another teacupful, lukewarm. Began feeling some positive effects on me. Took out the herb from the jar and stored the rest in fridge. 

4. Sipped 2 more cups, chilled, over several hours. 

After drinking the quart of echinacea infusion, I noticed some positive effects on me, so I made another quart and sipped a teacupful at a time throughout a day. Within 2 days, my sore throat and ear ache were totally gone. I never expected herbal infusion to be noticeably effective because no commercial herbal/medicinal tea bags have ever worked well on me. As a back-story, I gave echinacea in my yard extra attention and care this spring because the young shoots were chewed up by flee beetles and the growth was stunted. I felt as if the echinacea shared her loving and healing energy with me in return when I needed it this summer. 

Gifts from birds 2: Black bindweed (wild buckwheat)

Black bindweed aka wild buckwheat (Photo by bodhilens)

I finally identified one of the mystery plants growing around the bird feeder in our yard: black bindweed (aka wild buckwheat). Now it totally makes sense to me that this plant looks like a tiny version of morning glory without big flowers (They belong to the same family), and that the seeds just look like those of commercial buckwheat. It's this plant's second year growing on this spot, and this spring I led it to climb the feeder while containing it within a 30cm radius of the feeder. It's not gorgeous but pretty in its own way. I've read birds love the seeds, but I've never seen birds picking them from the plant. I guess they prefer commercial safflower seeds in the feeder hanging above the plant. When I picked some seeds and put them out on a plate, a few doves were eating them, though. When more seeds get mature, I'll see if my cockatiel likes to eat them.

Speaking of safflower seeds in the feeder, birds scatter a lot of them around the feeder, and some of them do sprout. I let a few sprouts grow this spring. I had to scrape a lot of aphids off when they were young, but they eventually bloomed and produced seeds. Safflower is called "benibana" (red flower) in Japanese because the flower can be processed as a natural red dye for food and cosmetics. Also, safflower flower tea/infusion is believed to promote "women's health." So I'm considering letting more sprouts grow next spring and making use of not only seeds but also flowers. It's so difficult (and painful) to harvest flowers and seeds because they are covered with thorns, though.

Safflower (Photo by bodhilens)

Nasturtiums are blooming

I'm experimenting on companion planting, hopefully to regulate pests organically and/or improve the flavors of vegetables. I sowed seeds of dwarf nasturtiums around tomatoes and zucchinis in late April. It took a while for them to germinate, but once they did, they have been growing steadily....and now they are blooming beautifully. I haven't found them trapping aphids yet, but that's OK. It's easy for me to pick some clean and fresh leaves and flowers to eat raw. They taste peppery, similar to radish sprouts. I plan to garnish a salad with them soon. (Photo by bodhilens)