DRINK YOUR MEDICINE: How to make Herbal Tea with herbs you grew yourself

Every Friday Finn has lead an herbal medicine skill share. In the past weeks I have learned so much about the benefits of certain herbs, ways to extract there medicinal properties and the small details about handling herbs to turn them in to medicine. To me, herbal medicine is a great supplement to modern western medicine, and brings relief in a less intense, more natural way. While we have learned how to make salves and tinctures, HERBAL TEA has been the most helpful and useful method of making medicine from plants that I have used so far. I have used tea to relax, reduce stress and anxiety, calm the nerves, and help generally feel good and be happy.

HOW TO MAKE HERBAL TEA:

1. HARVEST HERBS. Never cut more than 1/3 of the plant because any more than that can harm/shock the plant (it’s a living being you know). Leaves and flowers contain most of the medicinal properties of the plants but you can also use the stems and roots. Harvest close to the ends of bottoms of the stems to encourage growth.

2. DRY HERBS. By drying the plant, all of the water evaporates and the plants' medicinal properties become more useful and potent. Fresh herbs can be used but you would want to use much more (about 2 times as much) than dried herbs. To dry herbs, tie their ends with a string and hang them in a dark place with plenty of air flow. Another method is to make a drying rack with a material like bug screen stretched on a wood frame. Once the herbs are crispy you know they are dry and ready to use.

3. PREPARE THE HERBS. Crush and crumble the herbs into a container with a sealable top. We have been using glass jars but just about any container will work. By breaking the plant into small pieces, you are making sure more surface area is exposed for the medicinal properties to be extracted.

4. BOIL WATER AND POUR. Pour boiling water onto the herbs and cover the top. By keeping the top covered, the steam stays inside the container which helps better extract the medicinal properties. If using glass, be sure to pour slowly because if you pour too fast the glass may expand too rapidly and break (this already happened to me…very sad.)

5. LET STEEP. Let the mixture steep for at least 20 minutes or up to many hours. The longer you wait the more potent it gets. It all depends on your time schedule and how quick you want to use the medicine.

6. ENJOY YOUR MEDICINE!!! Strain out the plant matter with a tea strainer or something that can separate the liquid from the plants. You can drink the tea now or save it in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

Some great herbs that I have been using straight from our garden’s medicinal bed are Lavender, Mint, Yarrow, Yerba Buena, Stinging Nettles, and Lemon Balm. All of them are very relaxing and each have their own specific medicinal properties. Check back for my next blog post about specific herbs’ medicinal properties and great combinations for teas. STOP BY THE GARDEN ON FRIDAYS AT 2PM TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HERBAL MEDICINE.

TREMENDOUS THANKS TO FINN FOR PASSING ON THIS LIFE CHANGING WISDOM!!!

Introducing: Tyler Campbell

Tyler Campbell

ghcgmentor2@gmail.com

Born and Raised in San Francisco, I take pride in my roots and supporting the diverse community of my city. In my role as peer mentor, I welcome new participants to the garden, support the current volunteers and staff, conduct outreach, and help maintain the garden.

I recently graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz where I better realized my interest in nature, organic food, urban agriculture, and sustainability practices. It’s great to reap the healthy benefits of edible and medicinal plants like rosemary, lavender, mint, kale, peas, chamomile, onions, thyme and more—all grown in any place with sun, even in the city.

I see the garden as a place to be in touch with my connection to nature as a living being, even in the midst of the busy, fast paced ways of the city and modern technology. The garden is a place to take the time to relax, learn and share knowledge, and also create new, positive connections to fellow members of the greater San Francisco community. Through its meditative and therapeutic nature, as well as the bounty it produces, growing vegetables and herbs helps maintain a positive and healthy existence.

This week in the garden.

This past week in the garden we have continued to amend the soil, turn the beds, and plant new crops. The garden benefited from the artistic efforts during SF Refresh. The picture above is of a trellis we decorated with statements of affirmations and forgiveness written on paper and tied up with yarn.
This aloe was planted in the medicinal bed. It is doing well and has started flowering in a bright orange fashion. Aloe is a medicinal plant used for skin. Growing around the aloe we can see the yerba buena, which is a native to the Bay Area, and used to grow all over San Francisco. It is a mildly sedating herb that is part of the mint family and can be used as a tea (often times with chamomile) to calm and bring on sleep.

Here is our lovely medicinal bed that is a thriving and exciting part of the garden. The little pink marguarite daisy in the background has been flowering all year (!). In the foreground there is the ancient and cure-all St. John's Wort. It was given that name hundreds of years back, because its little yellow flowers arrive approximately around St. John's Day, which is on June 24th and coincides with the Summer Solstice and Midsummer's Day. The herb is known for brightening the mood.

78 Confirmed Free Activities for April 16th

The San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance (SFUAA) in collaboration with Project Homeless Connect’s Growing Home Community Garden, is hosting the inaugural SF Refresh Event on April 16, 2011. Designed to provide free whole body care activities in community gardens throughout San Francisco, SF Refresh is funded by the Mental Health Services Act in collaboration with SF Department of Public Health. SF Refresh will expand San Francisco’s system of care by utilizing city resources, businesses, non profits and interfaith groups and volunteers to provide healthy, artistic and creative options for self care. 78 confirmed free activities include: labyrinth walks, massage, yoga, nonviolence workshops, art projects, mediation and mindfulness, live music, cooking skill shares, mural painting, disaster preparedness, addiction recovery classes, gardening skill shares, harp therapy and stress reduction classes. At the Free Farm (Eddy/Gough)

• 8:00am All Levels Yoga (Flow Style) - Linda Leu


• 9:00am Labyrinth Walk - Kris Iversen


• 10:00am Affirmation/Forgiveness Trees


• 10:00am Meet the Artist: Mother Earth Exhibit


• 10:00am We Forgive you Papers


• 10:00am Volunteers @ The Free Farm


• 10:00am Meditation Workshop - Pancho


• 11:00am Herbs and Health Garden Talk/Walking Tour - Finn Cunningham 11:00am Nonviolence Workshop - Pancho


• 12:00pm Vegan Lunch 1:00pm Labyrinth Walk - Kris Iversen


• 1:00pm Yoga for Kids - Linda Leu


• 3:00pm Ball of Light Meditation - Melissa Lareau


• 3:00pm Yoga for Seniors and Individuals with Limited Mobility - Julie


• 3:30pm Grounding/Opening Chakra Meditation - Melissa Lareau


• 4:00pm All Levels Yoga (Flow Style) - Linda Leu


• 4:00pm Labyrinth Walk - Kris Iversen 4:00pm Mindfulness, Meditation and Somatic Experiencing Class - Rik Center of the Mindfulness Care Center


• 4:00pm Mural Painting - Composting Toilet


• 4:00pm Nichiren Shu Meditation (chanting and drums) - Michael McCormick 4:00pm Nonviolence Workshop - Pancho


• 4:00pm Planting and Potting Mindfulness - Tree


• 4:00pm Ball of Light Meditation - Melissa Lareau


• 4:30pm Grounding/Opening Chakra Meditation - Melissa Lareau


• 5:00pm Earth Healing Meditation - Melissa Lareau


• 6:00pm Meet the Artist - Anne Hamersky 8:00pm Stargazing – Pancho

At the Growing Home Community Garden (Octavia/Lily)

• 10:00am Affirmation/Forgiveness Trees 10:00am Meet the Artist: Mother Earth Exhibit


• 10:00am We Forgive you Papers 10:00am Meditation - Christopher Blount


• 11:00am Sprouting Skill Share - Christopher Blount


• 12:00pm Bicycle Powered Smoothies @ GHCG


• 1:00pm Deep Relaxation - Christopher Blount


• 1:00pm Writing Workshop - Rachel Cassandra and Jimmy Defebaugh of the Revel Art Collective


• 2:00pm Gardening for your Self Care Skill Share - Christopher Blount


• 3:00pm Irrigation and Drip System Skill Share


• 3:00pm Learn more about Alcoholics Anonymous


• 3:00pm Writing Workshop - Rachel Cassandra and Jimmy Defebaugh of the Revel Art Collective


• 4:00pm Harp Therapy - Jack Pantaleo


• 4:00pm Mindless Doodling - Ilyse Magy

At the Hayes Valley Farm (Fell/Laguna)

• 8:00am – 12pm The Great Compost Giveaway – Recology (bring your own bucket)


• 9:5am Parachute Play - Sam McMullen


• 10:00am Affirmation/Forgiveness Trees


• 10:00am Imagination Station


• 10:00am Meet the Artist: Mother Earth Exhibit


• 10:00am Mural painting - Jessica Kraft


• 10:00am We Forgive you Papers


• 10:00am Stretching/Movement - Jaime Tjahaja 10:45am Parachute Play - Sam McMullen 11:00am Be Red Cross Ready (Disaster Preparedness) - The Red Cross


• 11:00am Composting Skill Share - Sam McMullen


• 11:00am Making Your your End of Life Care Wishes Known - Megan Dowdell 11:00am Fence Yarn Pocket Art - Lily Laurence and Lauren Gucik of the Revel Art Collective 11:00am Reiki - Diana Wheeler


• 11:30am Chair Massage - Amy Hintze


• 11:45am Parachute Play - Sam McMullen


• 12:00pm Lunch @ Hayes Valley Farm*


• 12:00pm Choose Your Own Cob Oven Pizza Adventure


• 12:45pm Parachute Play - Sam McMullen


• 1:00pm Herbs and Wellness Skill Share - Sam McMullen


• 1:00pm Live Acoustic Music - David Douglas


• 1:45pm Parachute Play - Sam McMullen


• 2:00pm Vespertine Orchestra


• 1:00pm Composting Skill Share - Jaime Tjahaja


• 2:00pm Building Succulant Fence Pockets - Booka


• 2:00pm Mindfulness, Meditation and Somatic Experiencing Class - Rik Center of the Mindfulness Care Center


• 2:00pm Zen Meditation - Shannon Stewart 2:45pm Parachute Play - Sam McMullen 3:00pm Chair Massage - Amy Hintze


• 3:00pm See and Learn about Goats - City Grazing


• 3:00pm Bicycle Powered Smoothies @ Hayes Valley Farm


• 3:00pm Herbs & Wellness Skill Share - Sam McMullen


• 3:45pm Parachute Play - Sam McMullen


• 4:00pm Creative Writing Workshop


• 4:00pm Meditation/Mindfulness - Anne Mascovich


• 4:00pm Mindful Weeding - Sam McMullen


• 4:45pm Parachute Play - Sam McMullen

*Additional Cooking Skill Shares at the Hayes Valley Farm throughout the day with Ty Curley.

Bed Prep and Double Digging.

Bed prep is hard work! This is what we are learning this week. The good news is that many hands make light work, so bed prep is a great opportunity for everyone in the garden to participate. The jobs are many and diverse, so all folks can lend a hand. The picture above is of a bed housing last season's plants that we will soon harvest. There are peas on the fence and fava beans in the front. When we prep this bed we will 'dig' in the favas, because they are part of the pea family and fix the nitrogen in the soil.
This is a bed that is freshly double dug. Double digging is a method of bed prep that's good to use when you want to yield the maximum amount of food from a small space. It is great for urban gardens because you can amend the bed as you dig and do not need to take out all the soil to turn the bed. We amended this bed with a mixture of straw and goat manure, worm castings, and vegetable matter. The soil really changed its constitution: when we began digging it was dry and compacted, and after digging and amending it became rich, dark, and loamy.
This is another bed after we prepped it. The prep took us 3 hours! It looks different from the second picture because we broke up all the clumps and smoothed it out with a rake, and then shaped it into mounds. Bed prep is laborious, but very much worth it. After the community effort, we all felt very satisfied. This bed is now a home to baby squash and flowers. The flowers are at the perimeter of the bed and the squash live at the top of the mounds. We will soon plant tomatoes along the fence so they can vine up it, and also along the perimeter so they can hang off the side of the box. It it fun to grow the same plants in different ways to see how they thrive. I enjoy gardening because while there are many skills to learn, much can be said about imagination and experimentation. I try to always keep an open mind and listen to what the plants are telling me!

Introducing: Yvette Pannell

Hello,

My name is Yvette and I am a Peer Mentor in the garden. I come from a long line of farmers; I am the first generation in my family not to grow up on a farm. I love working at the garden because I get to learn about gardening and to help people. My job is a win-win situation.

The Growing Home Community Garden is a great place to learn the skill of gardening, the nutritional qualities of various vegetables and fruits, and the medicinal and/or culinary qualities of herbs.

Since I started woking at the garden, I have learned about vegetables I had never heard of before and how to prepare them. Do you know what a Kohlrabi is? I never heard of it until I started working at the garden. At the garden you can make new friends, and escape from the "city scene" for a little while.

Spring time is here and we are busy enriching the soil and planting summer crops. Drop by and say hello or sign up to be a volunteer.