Self Heal

Have you seen this in your lawn? Ever wonder what it was? Well, I have, and I researched it.  It is called Self Heal. Ha, okay. I found my first flower growing on the edge of the dirt in our hop garden. I will continue to hunt for them throughout the summer as this is the foraging time right now, and the less often we mow, the more likely I am to find them.

It is an antioxidant. Put that in your healing salves! It is known to protect our skin from UVA effects. It also calms down the pain of sunburn. It is also known to calm down inflammation from the inside as well. Maybe make a spray with it for a sore throat or inflamed gums. You could also make a tea if you like, and add some thyme(calms the digestive system) to drink if you are under the weather with a cold or the flu. It takes a bit like rosemary. Self heal is a great plant to use when fighting allergies as well. 

Self heal could be confused with red dead nettle, which is more of a diuretic but also has anti-inflammatory attributes as well. I d not currently have a photo of it, but if I find some in my yard, I will add it to this blog. 

If you want to pick self heal in the natural, I mean you aren't growing it on purpose, then dry them as soon as you pick them, as to preserve their goodness. Then when you feel you have enough to use either soak them in olive oil or drink as a tea. If you want to create a throat spray, use my tincture guidelines to move forward with that. You can use the flower, stem, and leaves. I would try to leave as much of the plant intact as possible, as it will flower more than once in the summer. 

As usual

Keep brewing, keep cooking, and most of all keep healing.

Cheers,

MysTorri