Thank you to the Friends of the Air Library for sponsoring this today, and thank you to Mo for coming out here and traveling up this way. We're going to talk about medicinal plants, and it's a beautiful gorgeous day. I thank everybody for coming. And if you're interested in other programs that we
have, like a mushroom walk in July, um we have our summer reading kickoff on June 20th with a huge party in the parking lot of the Air Library. Anything like that you're interested in, you can find on our website in our events calendar. You also can get a newsletter,
sign up for our newsletter, um and we'll email it to you. And just take a look at our calendar. So, with that, I'm going to hand it off to Mo. Thank you for coming. >> Thanks for having me. Um well, welcome. Um my name is Mo. I use they/them
pronouns, and I work as an herbalist. I work I work one-on-one with clients, supporting people with their health using plants. And then I teach classes all over New England. Um so, it's fun to I often get to go to new places, and I get to see them for the first time, and then um get to like explore the plants together. So,
it's sweet to be here. Okay, I want to start with this plant right here. Um this is a plant that I really love. Um there's some growing right here. There's some growing over here. Um I invite you, if you want to try to
find a leaf and pick one, and you can put it in your mouth if you'd like to, and taste it. Um but feel free to check in with me to make sure it's the right plant. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. What do you notice about the
flavor, or the color, or the the feel of it? Anything Any Any of your senses? It is, yeah. >> Did not enjoy the flavor. >> Did not enjoy it? Yeah, that's that's a good observation, for sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. >> The way I expect leaves to taste. >> Totally. Kind of like a leaf. Yeah.
>> It's rough on the bottom, like the >> Mhm. What about like the mouth feel? >> Aggressive. >> Yeah. Oh, can you say more? >> [laughter] >> Scratchy? >> Kind of scratchy, totally. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Yeah.
Yeah, these are pretty These are older leaves. Um if you Um yeah, if I were going to harvest these for food, usually I don't I don't eat these that like this, but it's fun to do when we're doing this. I don't harvest for food. I harvest for one of those smaller leaves like that.
It's a lot more It's a lot tastier. Um these ones are like a lot more more medicinal, less tasty, I would say. Um but if you have it in your mouth long enough, you'll notice that at the end it gets really like a little bit mucilaginous. Um anyone noticing that? >> slimy? >> Yeah. >> Yeah, a little bit.
>> Mhm. Yeah, the younger ones will get a lot more slimy. Yeah. >> A lot more slimy. >> Mhm. Mhm. [laughter] Um yeah, this is like a very soft and I would say much tastier than this one. Um okay. I can't talk while I'm >> [laughter] >> chewing. Um
so anyone know what plant this is? This is violet. >> Really? I wondered. It looks like a violet leaf. >> Yeah, they get very large in like these kinds of areas, especially like in the shade here they get larger cuz they're trying to catch as much light as possible. Um
so yeah, have you grown violet before or yeah, anyone have a relationship with violet? >> I know you can eat the flowers. >> You can eat the flowers and the leaves, yeah, obviously, I guess. Um so the flowers are past. The flowers come out like um May, April April maybe late
April early May. Um and they are this gorgeous purple and you can make a syrup with them. Um which I do by um I'll put the um I like to harvest about like a jar
full of flowers and pour boiling water over them and then I'll um and then I'll uh let sit for like an hour and then strain it out. And then when you strain it the coolest part I think is that like the flowers that are left, they turn like white. There's like nothing left in them. But um
Like Yeah, it's all in the It's all in the um the liquid. Um so the syrup's beautiful. It's It's like a bright blue and if you um if you uh like add any any um uh like acid it turns like purple or
pink. Um so it's really fun if you like It's fun for like lemon like pink lemonade with kids. It's fun like for like cocktails with adults. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, so it's really beautiful. It's very lovely and nice for like the respiratory tract. Um very soothing um to the throat. Helps get things out.
Um >> What does it taste like? >> Uh well, I add sugar so it tastes like sugar. Um >> [laughter] >> But the the the flowers themselves, ah, they're kind of like taste like plant. Like they're not It's not super strong, I would say. Yeah, like I added sugar to make it like a syrup cuz it's kind of like then it's more shelf stable. You
can keep it for longer. Um I don't add enough sugar to make it shelf stable because that's like so sweet, but I add enough sugar to like keep in the fridge for several months or whatever. >> Oh, cool. >> Um yeah. The Yeah, the leaf I use a lot. Um for a few different reasons. One is that it's a lymphatic. So
anyone know what the lymphatic system is enough to like maybe say a few words about it? >> body. >> Cleanse your body totally. Yeah, so we have like So we have our our cardiovascular system, right? We have our heart, pumps our blood. And then our blood flows through our veins, our arteries and our veins,
right? Um it has a pump so it's like it's easy for it to flow cuz there's a pump for it. So the lymphatic system is what So we think of our blood as like these tubes like they're like tubes, but they're actually very porous and there's like there's fluids like seeping out of them all the time and the lymphatic system picks it up and brings [snorts]
it back into circulation and cleans it up. And it doesn't have a pump. So, the difference in the lymphatic system is like it needs needs our movement to pump. So, our our muscles squeeze and that's what pumps the pumps the lymphatic system. Um and so, violet's an herb that helps move our lymphatic system. So, if there's any like swollen
lymph nodes anywhere, um or edema, violet can be a really nice plant. And it comes in the spring, which is so nice cuz I don't know about the rest of you, but winter I'm kind of like sluggish and like I haven't moved a lot, so my lymph might be not be flowing as well and um I also like often get like sicknesses in the winter, right? Like
our like a lot of our immune systems in our lymphatics and in our in our in our lymphatic vessels. And so, all of these a lot of plants that come out in the spring are lymphatic, including violet, um that help like clean us out in the springtime, which is quite nice. >> Actually, can I go I think
whatever. There's cool stuff everywhere. Um I don't know. Sure looks like it. Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is echinacea. Pretty sweet. Anyone ever heard of echinacea before? Have you heard of echinacea? >> Echinacea and coneflower are the same.
>> Yes, they are the same. Yeah, so echinacea, so it's hard to tell right now. It's kind of nondescript. This one right here and that one right there. Once it flowers, it's very iconic. My favorite part of echinacea is like the feel of the of the seeds. Like when they it's very um
prickly. So, yeah, it's coneflower is like the common name. Um echinacea, so I um People think of Have anyone ever taken echinacea tincture before or like used it in any way or heard of it? >> I've had it in tea before for like, you know, throat. >> Yeah.
>> I take a pill of it every other day. >> Cool. Yeah. So, echinacea is a plant I work with echinacea primarily to stimulate the immune system. So, I think when I think about the immune system, I think we like
we sometimes we think of stimulating the immune system like that's like let's do that all the time. I don't think it's great to do that all the time. Like I think of like our like I think of like phases of immune system. Like when you're when you're just when you're not exposed to anything, when you're not like you're not exposed to infection, you don't feel
sick, um when you're just well, like I don't work with echinacea in those times. There's other plants that are like more long-term building for our immune system, but echinacea is really wonderful for the like the initial symptoms of infection. Um so, I use it like I guess I I would
say like two kind of times. Like one is like you're exposed to sickness. So, um that's like your kid comes home like all sniffly and so and you don't want to get sick, too. Um and then two is like you feel that like whatever it is for you. Some people it's like that like the little feeling at the
back of your throat. Some people it's like body aches. Whatever it is that's like a sign of like, "Oh, I might be getting sick." That's when I use echinacea. And then once you're fully sick, I also don't use echinacea anymore because what it's doing is kind of giving your immune system like a kick in the butt. And so, once you're fully sick, like you have a fever, whatever, like your immune system
is fully kicked in the butt. Like it doesn't need anymore. It's like fully it's doing its thing. It doesn't really need Yeah, it doesn't need it doesn't need your support anymore. Um or or we need to support the symptoms. And there's there's different support that needed but not to like push the immune system. So, I think of echinacea
for like those kind of two phases. Um and the part that I use is the root. You can also use the leaves. You can use the flowers. Um the seed. People make medicine with like the whole plant, which also is very effective. Um but the root is like the most potent. Um and it should taste gross.
Um if it tastes if it tastes good, it's not it's not what you want. Um If it's just like a little sweet, that's fine. Like you can add sugar to it. Whatever. But like it shouldn't What it does is it makes your it like kind of numbs your mouth and makes it makes you salivate. It's very weird. Yeah, and like there's different
qualities of echinacea and I I will say I I don't I don't buy the tea personally. >> You look at this plant, you see how it has these little red lines kind of coming up it? >> So, it's it has an affinity for um for red lines in our body. So, if you get an infected cut
um and then you have those like red line you know you're you're seeing that. Someone has an infected cut and then they start having a red line going up. So, that's like a really bad sign, right? That's like a kind of of sepsis. >> [laughter] >> Which we don't want. That's like the infection's going systemic. So, echinacea like the plant kind of telling
us that it has this affinity for like those red lines going up our going up our body. Um so, I actually have used it for that successfully. Um that Yeah, I don't recommend I go to the doctor, get antibiotics. >> [laughter] >> But I have used it successfully. Um
yeah. Um >> So, when you make a tincture, you soak the root in alcohol? >> Mhm. Yeah, you can get like 50/50 vodka or whatever. Um or like like I mean yeah, I would recommend I think 50/50 vodka is better than like than like 80 proof vodka. So, like
most vodkas like 40% alcohol. It really wants a higher alcohol than that. So, I think like if you can get like 100 proof vodka, that's like better for that. Um Yeah, if you're using the fresh root, then you get Everclear and I cuz like cuz the the fresh the water from the fresh plant will
But yeah, you just like chop it up. I mean I So, you can just buy the you can buy the dried root and that's like a pretty wet >> Where can you find Everclear near here? >> Uh near here, I don't know. Um >> Near Massachusetts either. >> Oh, Massachusetts you can buy it. Like liquor stores will have it. Yeah.
Yeah. >> Wine. >> What? >> Total Wine probably. >> Yeah, most like >> Most of them won't count. They won't >> Really? Oh, huh, interesting. I buy it in I buy it in >> [laughter] >> bulk. I haven't bought it recently cuz I buy like I buy like gallons like mini gallons at a time. So,
I don't know, but I yeah, interesting. >> Jersey was the only place I knew who carried it. >> Who? Really? Well, certain states certain states have it, certain states don't have it. Massachusetts does though. Like it's it's legal in Massachusetts. It's not in New Hampshire. I know. I know. [laughter] Yeah. No, it is legal. I don't know. I
feel like sometimes when I ask for it they'll have like a like a little section in the back of the liquor store. But you can just like like if you I mean I I think the tincture with like if you're harvesting you can dry the root and then and then use like 50/50 50/50 vodka, that's perfectly fine. Beautiful people will cultivate so many different varieties of these plants. So I can show you I'll find like pink ones and purple
ones and all kinds of ones. You want the You want like the the most like the most natural kind you can find because that's what we have the research on, right? Like that's what we have like thousands of years of use. >> And that's the purple ones. >> That's the purple ones, yeah. Because like yeah, cuz like we like we we breed plants to do all kinds of things, right?
But like if if it's not the um traditional Yeah, if it's been bred to do something weird, it's not going to be Is that like we don't we don't know. Like if it's bred to be have We don't know what the chemistry of that will be. Like we just don't know. It could be better, but we just don't know. So I try
to stick with the Yeah, they're like classic one. Um well, what do we know about What do you can you see What oleander I don't know. Um it's in the mint family.
So mint family Um the way I know that is a few things. One is that it's very aromatic. A lot of which doesn't tell us it's in the mint family, but it gives us a sign that it might be. Um and Sorry, I'm looking at these trees. >> [laughter]
>> Um but um yeah, so um Yeah, so tell us that it might be because it's aro- like all most mint family plants are aromatic. They're not all. Of course there are other plants that are aromatic that are not mint family, but it's it's a it's a kind of an indicator it might be. Um the other thing that really tips me off is the
square stem. So mint family plants all have square stems. I can pass this around if you want to like look at the stem. It's It's square. You can feel it. Um and then the leaves come out like this and they come out like this and they come out like this. They kind of do this opposite thing happening. Um
and um the when it when it flowers, the flower is a very, very classic mint family flower. So, we're not going to see that right now, but um yeah. >> It has a bit of a bite to it. >> Yeah. Yeah, it's a little spicy, right? Yeah. >> It leaves a good aftertaste.
>> Yeah. So, I like this one in tea. This is bee balm. Um also called monarda. Um so, yeah. So, I um yeah, I like using bee balm. Um it's
it's it's it's tasty in tea. I like it with anise hyssop. Have you ever had anise hyssop? The two together are really nice cuz one's really sweet. Anise hyssop is really sweet and bee balm is a little spicy, so like sweet and spicy together is quite nice. Um it is really wonderful for
um getting gunk out of the lungs and easing spasms in the gut. And the way it does that is cuz it's aromatic. And so, the aromatics in the plant are in order for us to smell something, it has to enter our noses. And so, in order for something to enter our noses, it has
to be small because in order cuz it has to be able to like exit the plant and enter and like fly through the air and enter our nose. Um so, in order to like fly through the air, it it has to be a small compound. It can't be like like I don't know. Calcium's not going to fly through the air, right? It's like
heavier than that. Um so, these like it has these tiny little aromatic rings and they um fly it so, they fly through the air, they enter our nose, and they can get really anywhere in the body very quickly. So, they even without like even without tasting it, we're still smelling it and we're getting it like it's entering our body that way. And they can
cross the blood-brain barrier. So, sometimes I think of monarda for things like if people want to like it's kind of has this upward energy. Some plants have like more of a downward energy. Um but it has like more of an upward energy. So, it kind of has like this like uh like helpful for like uplifting, helpful for like focus.
Um yeah, thank you for doing what you need to do for your bodies. >> [laughter] >> I know, it's really hot. We'll go look at these trees next. I don't know if we're going to walk anywhere cuz there's so much right here. And like I don't I don't think when we start walking there's like a lot less. So, we'll just like circle this area and then maybe walk down there or something,
but there's so much right here. So, if I wanted to be stronger, I might I might combine it with thyme. Thyme's like maybe stronger in that way. Um like culinary thyme. So, thyme and bee balm together could be really nice. Like I might make like a um infused I would imagine infusing them in
vinegar would be quite nice. Like you put thyme and bee balm in vinegar and then let it sit for a while and strain them out. A while meaning like a couple weeks. And then and then add like equal parts honey. That would be so good. >> [laughter]
>> Um yeah, that's something I would Yeah, I I I haven't made that exactly, but I've made things similar to that. Um and I feel the flavors would complement, too. Um and and thyme's a little stronger like getting these out of the lungs. They're both antimicrobials. They're both are active against They're pretty broad spectrum. So, like bacteria, fungi,
viruses. Um but thyme's a little stronger. So, I think they would be really nice together. Um yeah, and then like stomach So, like if if our stomach is spasming, these tiny little aromatic molecules what they do is they um So, we have we have smooth
lining lines our whole gut. And so, what they do is they irritate the smooth muscle and then the irritation then causes relaxation. So, it's kind of like if you ever like tense up all your muscles and then relax, right? It's like It's like It's doing that to your mus- to your smooth muscles in your gut and then helping
them relax. So, it's easing spasms that way. Does that make sense? >> Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Um So, all mint family plants what they the leaves the newly come out from the leaf axils, so there's like new leaves coming out there and there. So, if I harvest right here, like I
pinch the tip right there, then there's going to now it's going to become a bushier plant. So, there's like now two new new stems will sprout. So, it's actually beneficial to the plant to harvest. >> Oh. >> Um if you do it that way. People often will like take the leaves and that's not as beneficial to the plant. Um
and so if I was going to do it for like for food, I would just harvest it like that. This is a great time to harvest for food. Um for um like if I was going to if I was going to make like make that like vinegar I was talking about or like make tea or something, I prefer when it's flowering. It's just like I think it's like the
flower also has a lot of like wonderful medicine. And the time to harvest the flower and you harvest the flower and the leaves. So, I harvest like both together. And like just as coming into flower. So, not when the flower is like old and there's like it's kind of falling off, but when it's like like about to open or just opened.
Um >> Didn't find it bitter once it's flowering? >> No, I don't think it's super bitter. No. Do you? Yeah? Huh. Cool. Maybe you have a more you're have a more more adult more uh um well-defined palate than I do.
>> Okay. We have two of these trees. >> Um anyone have a guess of like what kind of trees these are? I don't mean the species, but like the >> Maple? >> Yes, they are maple trees. >> And so these are both maple trees. >> And they're often confused for each
other. So, it's fun that we have them both together cuz this is a great like look-alike determine what the differences are between these two trees. Um so one is native and one is what I call a very enthusiastic transplant. I guess that's that's the main differences. So, I'm
curious like what do you notice are the differences between between these two trees? Like what do you see that's like like look at the bark, look at the leaves. Like how do you how would you tell them apart? Like how would you tell your friend like oh, I was looking at this one or I was looking at this one. >> This one has much more limbs coming of it. >> Yeah, totally. Totally. Yeah, yeah,
yeah, it's a great observation. Yeah. So, yeah, they're kind of all branching off of this one cuz it's like this like long big trunk. Yeah. >> This one has like the little pod things or you know, like the wings I call them. >> Oh, totally. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you seeing them already? >> Yeah, I'm seeing them.
>> Oh my gosh. Wow. That's wild. That's wild. Look at this, already gone to seed. Nice. >> I don't know why. >> So, that's pretty imp- that's like a cake. So, generally if a plant's very enthusiastic, it it reproduces very quickly. This one's already gone to
seed. That kind of throws me off to like Yeah, nice. Yeah, little nose little nose little helicopter. Yeah, nice. This one we don't have seeds yet. Um what else? What about the leaves? What are What are the the difference between the two leaves?
They're very similar, right? Yeah. Yeah, I don't even know how to describe the difference between these. So, it's nice to see them together. Um what about the bark? >> I mean, that one feels like you frosted a cake and put your fork through it. >> Totally, yeah. That's a great [laughter]
way to describe it. Yeah. Um I don't think I noticed anything about the front is that the leaves are a little darker than this one. Um and there's a lot of more dead branches, which is really common of this tree. It's like like it's very common in cities and often like there's like often
like it looks like a mess. [laughter] Um there's like dead branches everywhere. >> [snorts] >> Um so, this is a Norway maple and this is a sugar maple. And they're often confused for each other. Um but if you want to make maple syrup, you really want sugar maple because Norway maple maples have like I think it's like
80 to 1 versus sugar maples are like 40 to 1 in terms of syrup content. So, like you have to boil twice as much sap to get syrup with the Norway maple. I guess yeah, they do. They have like a little latex if you like pull the the leaf off. Um versus the sugar maples won't have
that. So, that's another ID little milky milky sap. So, yeah. Um you can show off to your friends now that you know which maple's which. So, red clover is a phytoestrogen.
So, it has um uh it which means it has like plant estrogen in it. Which um someone One of my students I have like um I teach like a year-long program with some students and um one of them recently was like, "My friend's making fun of me because they told me that clover's a girl's plant."
>> [laughter] >> I was like I ate that like that just destroyed me. I went on a whole I was like the guy cuz like they they people think estrogen, right? Then there's a whole freak out, right? There's like this big est- Like, you know, people freak out about hormones. Um but they they Okay, first of all, humans have like we all have
estrogen in our bodies. We all have testosterone. We all have progesterone. And they relate to each other, right? Like like testosterone's constantly turning into estrogen in all bodies. It's turning into like DHT. Like it's like they're all related to each other and they like move move through each other. And they're all from cholesterol.
So, like it's all it's all related. Um and then secondly, plant hormones are just not nearly as strong as human hormones. So, like the phytoestrogens in red clover are like a much weaker form of estrogen than our human our human
estrogen. And they're actually modulating. So, if our human estrogen is too high, then red clover will bind to the receptors and because it has a like a low a less effect than our estrogen can't bind, and then we experience a
lower estrogen in our body. Um versus if our estrogen's too low, then it'll bind and like raise it up a little bit. So, it's balancing. It's not going to push us too high or too low. It's really balancing. Um And so, that's like So, if someone's using it So, say someone's transgender and wanting more
estrogen, it's like really not a good choice for that cuz it's not going to do that. It's much more balancing. Um So, I use it in people of all bodies who are wanting to like balance out estrogen levels for whatever reason. Um Yeah.
So, I love red clover tea. I think it's awesome, especially for hormone modulation. It's like a great way to eat red clover. Um, for for minerals, like minerals are hard to extract, right? Cuz it's like a rock. Like, you don't It's hard to extract rocks into like a liquid. Um, like it takes thousand you
know like hundred of thousand years for rivers to do that. Um, so um, if you boil water and then you put the red clover in there and let it sit for like 12 hours, you get a lot more out of it than if you just like um do it for 10 minutes or whatever. Um,
also like vinegar is a great way to extract minerals cuz it's um, it's like think about like rusty nails, right? Like acid kind of gets It wears away minerals pretty easily. Um, also just eating it is a great way to get minerals. Um, but for hormone modulation, like the tea is great. I use it all the time. So.
>> Do you use the flower, the leaves, the roots? >> Good question. Yeah, so I would har- I harvest primarily the flower, but I also would harvest like like this as it's coming into flower, this is the perfect time. Like, I would harvest this whole Like, I would harvest that. That's what I would put in tea. Um, again, commercial quality is like super crappy
and really expensive. Um, yeah, so but how it's it's so nice to just harvest your own. So. And as I said, it dries really well. Um, it lasts like not super long, maybe a year if you do it well, but yeah. Red clover.
So. So, this is a very enthusiastic plant. Um yeah, I So I think like we often Yeah, we talk about I think is it like there's a lot of like judge We put a lot of our human judgments of the world on plants. Um and
often like the words we use for humans, we also use for plants. Like we'll talk about like naturalized plants and invasive You know, there's like all these like whatever. Uh all these words we use for plants. And so I like to think about I I used to call it like an enthusiastic plant. Um and I like to I
think if you think about invasive plants in general like like we are the most invasive species, right? Like no species is as invasive as humans. And so I think it's important to like recognize our place in that. And and see like what's like what's the medicine, right? Like what's the
medicine of this plant [snorts] wherever it is. And so like And I think it's also important to like also be real about like what these plants are are doing, right? And so like this plant like like like very little growing under this, right? It's it's forming like a really dense hedge. We have some ground ivy growing now, which isn't growing anywhere else, which is interesting.
Another enthusiastic uh uh yeah, um plant. Um but the Yeah, so it it is taking it's taking it's it's taking over this this space from unkeeping and like keeping
diversity out. That's like certain true. Um and we can use it as medicine. So um as Melissa was saying like that that the shoots can be eaten. So the early shoots, right when they're first coming up, you can eat them. Um they kind of are like rhubarb-y. You can cook with
them. Um and yeah. And then the um the so that it's called knotweed cuz it has these knots in it, right? And these knots are really great for um They're uh once the stalk is dry, you
can you can use this as like a It's like a um a compostable mold. Like a like a Sorry, like a mold to like put pour If you If you pour like say like make candles, you can pour wax in there and then it'll make a candle that way. You can pour You can make crayons that way.
I've made suppositories that way. You can use all kinds of things. Um and you can have different sizes right of different mold sizes. So that's really nice. And the other medicine that I work with primarily is the root. So the root of Japanese knotweed is this amazing medicine. Um it's very
anti-inflammatory. It's like a very powerful anti-inflammatory for like chronic inflammatory uh like like long-term illnesses. I think like like chronic Lyme, long COVID. That's
how I think about Japanese knotweed. Especially chronic Lyme cuz chronic Lyme's often like very hot and inflammatory. Um whereas long COVID is often very like cold and inflammatory. Um that's exaggerated. It's like I mean that's a generalization, but um it's What's interesting is that so so
knotweed and and uh deer ticks have been spreading steadily in the same places. Um and as knotweed has like been like creeping north, so have so have ticks and so has Lyme disease. Um and so sometimes the medicine and like the poison are together. Um
So it is antimicrobial. It's active against Lyme disease. People use it like I'm like on a tick bite or like immediately when they get a tick bite. I think of it prim- I think I use it I use it that way as well sometimes, but I think of it especially for like long-term like chronic Lyme I use it a lot more for.
Um and yeah, it's just like really wonderful for like also for like cardiovascular inflammation. So any like any cardiovascular inflammatory conditions. So um especially if there's like like there's like like hot inflammation in the cardiovascular
system. So like your like classic like you know, like boomer father who like hasn't had a eaten a vegetable in 30 years. Um and like has all kinds of like cardiovascular inflammation. This is like the perfect I
think it's like the perfect plant for that. Um But yeah, so garlic mustard is like everywhere. I'm sure you've seen it. If you smell a plant it smells like and you're like it smells like garlic and someone else is like it smells like mustard. It's garlic mustard. It is in the mustard family.
Um it's great for pesto. Um I So one thing that both garlic and mustard both have in them is sulfur. And so garlic mustard is like is rich in sulfur. And sulfur is very pungent. So instead
of like how the like our uh those aromatic molecules like getting thing like moving things and things out, garlic just does it in a really different way. It's like very like heating and like it just kind of like raises our body's fire and it clears out. It's like It's like It just by the pungency and acridity is what clears
things out. So it's great for like clearing out mucus, great for like um if you're someone who runs really cold. So actually it's kind of like good for like hot people. If you're someone who runs really cold and you like say you get sick like all all winter you're sick because you just like are cold all the time and you like
were out hiking and you got really really cold and it rained on you whatever. You come home, eat a bunch of garlic mustard. If you have like pesto in the freezer whatever. Like it's it's like that like that Or usually garlic or mustard. >> [laughter] >> But it's a similar medicine to those. Yeah, and like it just it will just clear like it raised our body's fire and
helps clear things out in that way. So great for someone who has like a low-grade fever and you want to like raise up the fever a little bit and like sweat it out. Really nice for that. Um Yeah. What does this look like to you? Like who does it look related to?
>> Tomato. >> A carrot, yeah. Tomato. Yeah. Yeah, totally. More carrot. >> [laughter] >> More carrot. >> But I I see where I see where you're going. Yeah. So actually it's related to goutweed. They're on the same family. So, the
family is the carrot family. Um and the carrot family we know because it um has what's called compound umbels. So, see how all of the flowers come out from one point? Here. And then here they all come out from one point again. It's like two. So,
an umbel is like an umbrella, like two umbrellas, basically. So, it's a one umbrella and then two umbrellas. So, it's compound umbels. Um and then um this one hasn't flowered yet. Um but it will and um this is Queen Anne's Lace.
Also called wild carrot. So, Queen Anne's Lace is carrot. It's like the same species as carrot. It's just been bred to be Carrots have been bred to be orange and sweet and Queen Anne's Lace has not been bred to do anything. Um and yeah. So, it's also So, a lot
There's a lot of poisonous carrot family plants. So, be very careful about carrot family plants, especially before they flower. Um there's a lot of ones that are very, very poisonous. Um like will kill you. So, one of some of our most poisonous plants are in the carrot family. Um but Queen Anne's Lace um is distinguishable
from the like poison hemlock, poison um poison uh water hemlock, which are like the two most poisonous plants. There's also like other ones that are like won't won't kill you, but will be unpleasant. Those ones will like kill you pretty quickly. Um this one's distinguishable because it had the Queen has hairy legs. So, this
The Queen Anne's Lace has like hairy has like hairy uh stems. Um but that's it. If you're beginner to harvesting, I don't recommend harvesting. Um that's Queen Anne's Lace. What is this? I think this is Oh, this is raspberry. So, raspberry has like this like little like silvery underside that's like a
classic raspberry. >> Mhm. >> Um so, yeah. Raspberry medicine. Anyone ever like eaten a raspberry before? Hell yeah. [laughter] Um what about Oh, a little flower. Look at that a little flower. You put a little
bugs. They're not in the flower. >> Yeah. >> Oh, and there's another fun one down here behind it. Cool. Great. Good find. Um Yeah, so raspberry um ever eaten the leaf before or drunk raspberry leaf tea before?
So, raspberry leaf tea is very common. Um it's because it has actually one of the only plants we have research on in pregnancy cuz like we don't have research on medications in pregnancy and like there's no money in plant research. [laughter] So, there's actual research in raspberry leaf in pregnancy which is
great. Um and it what what it um what we know is that it helps make our make contractions more effective and shorten labor time. >> Oh. >> Um if it's taken in like the second and third trimester. I don't recommend any plants in the first trimester just cuz it's like just not worth it.
Um yeah. Um I mean, if people if it if it's not like really needed. Um but if it's not worth it, it's not worth it. Um but the second trimester can be really great to work and the third trimester can be really great to work with raspberry leaf. Um and you can just drink a tea of it. It works really well as tea.
And bless you. And it um uh Yeah. I um so so it help Yeah, it helps make So, by making contractions more effective, it shortens labor time, right? Cuz if you're like effectively contracting and not just spasming, you can push a baby out a little faster.
Um and so like the part of how it does that is that it's um astringent. So, um it has tannins in it. Anyone ever like used like an astringent on your face or like on any part of your body or yeah. So, like so astringent is like plants
that have tannins in them are astringent. Which what that does is So, tannins bind to protein. And we have protein all over like we our skin's all protein and like our um yeah, we have like we have protein like they what it does is it binds to protein and brings them together. So, it tightens tissue um
by like binding to it. Um So, the tannins are like red wine again? >> [laughter] >> Or like black tea has tannins in it, right? And so when you like when you drink black tea, it kind of like makes your mouth pucker a little bit, right? Um but if you put milk in it, it's less because they're binding So our our our saliva has protein in it, and so it
binds the protein in our saliva, and then it's we get dry. Um versus if it binds the protein in milk, then you your mouth doesn't get quite as dry. Um so yeah, so raspberry leaf is really wonderful for um for astringing both the gut and the and the uterus.
Um so yeah, so it's topical in the gut, and it has a reflex action in the uterus. We don't actually absorb it at all. We just like eat it and then poop it right out, but it somehow has that reflex action in our uterus. And so yeah, so by being astringent, it helps like tighten up tissue. So if like the uterus is a little bit like floppy
oosie, or if like the the gut's a little bit floppy oosie, if people have like leaky gut, or like anything going on down there where it needs to be like tightened and have like more effective movement in the gut, um that could be helpful there. Um also good for menstrual cramps for that reason cuz it helps like tighten tissue
and help it be more [laughter] effective. Um I find although people say all the time that they take it for menstrual cramps when they have menstrual cramps and it works for them. Um I don't know if that's you, but I don't quite know what the mechanism is for that cuz it's more of like a I think it's more of a long-term tonic. But people can really have effects from it
like immediately. So I I always read about it, and maybe that's placebo, which is like the best studied one most wonderful medicine out there. Or maybe it's maybe or maybe there's like a mechanism that I don't know. But like there's definitely definitely taking it like long-term for cramps is really really effective. Um
And then the other mechanism of it is that it has it's very mineral rich, in particular rich in magnesium. And look how like dark green it is, right? This is a lot of like you know, you got like your butter lettuce, it's like it's green, but it's like not that green. Um but this is like dark green. Like so so what is green mean in a
plant? >> Chlorophyll. >> Chlorophyll. Yeah, totally. And so chlorophyll is this like beautiful molecule and at the center of chlorophyll is magnesium. So the more chlorophyll the more magnesium in a plant. And magnesium is like super in these
days because none of us eat enough dark green things so we're all deficient. And magnesium is also really popular because it's a signal for our muscles to relax. So calcium's a signal for our muscles to contract and then magnesium's a signal for them to relax. And so if we don't have enough magnesium we just like
literally can't relax. And so that's also why it's helpful for cramps and also for like for childbirth is that it like it tightens up tissue so that we can I'm sorry that that tightens up tissue we already talked about. Like it it helps our muscles relax. So if our muscles are super crampy and
spasmy it helps them relax. Yeah. I love raspberry and the fruits are amazing. Very antioxidant rich. Anyone give me permission to throw this plant at them? >> Sure Chris. >> Oh great. Okay, both of you? Great. Okay.
>> Oh. Oh wow. >> This is called cleavers cuz it cleaves to you. >> Oh yeah. Where's the sticky? >> That's cool. >> Yeah. Someone told me it was called sticky willy too recently. >> Sticky willy?
>> Which I guess makes sense. Yeah, so this is cleavers. Which is another really great lymphatic. So I would say this is stronger than violet. This is like Yeah, this is good like I think I think cleavers is like a I got to say one of
the stronger like the lymphatics that comes out in the springtime that's really helpful for like one of like the of the ones that are still like gentle enough to like consume regularly it's one of the stronger ones. So yeah, similar. Not moistening at all. Not really good to eat cuz of the
texture, you know. >> [laughter] >> But you can do whatever you want. I I put it in pesto a lot. It's very the flavor is very neutral. So good in pesto or you can um like make tea with it or um What's really good is juicing it. If you like I've never I've never done it with
a juicer but I've done it with like a like a grain grinder. I've done it with where like ours is a ton and it's like ground through the grain grinder and that juice is so potent. Really great for moving lymph. Um, yeah. But um >> Very tiny little flowers >> Yeah, do you have Is that Is that one
flowering? Yeah, so they And they have They have um Oh yeah, interesting. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So um so cleavers um looks a lot like bedstraw. So if you see if you um
if you see a plant that looks like this but doesn't have the um but it does not it's not sticky. It's not It's then it's bedstraw probably. So yeah. You want your cleavers bedstraw. >> Do they call it bedstraw cuz they would use it in bedding? >> You know, probably, right? I kind of think of it as like I like animal
bedding cuz it's like always around. It's like always like growing in like animal field. Like I see it a lot in animal pastures or like around I don't know. But I don't know I don't know. Okay, this plant here is a really fun one. It's kind of hard to tell right now but I love it. Um
So I guess I'll harvest some for you. Um, so a smooth smooth stem is one way to kind of notice this plant. Look at those nice leaves. It's really nondescript right now. >> Yes. >> But um it's about to have a beautiful yellow flower
um in like 2 months. >> Yeah, I think we have a bunch of these at the cafe here. >> I bet. This goldenrod. Um, so
yeah, so I love goldenrod. I Goldenrod's like the um I wouldn't say my partner I wouldn't say they're herb skeptics. They're definitely not herb skeptics but they aren't like taking all the weird things I make them all the time, right? But they keep goldenrod tincture in their pocket.
Um because it has such an immediate effect, right? And so for people um who like forget to take their herbs sometimes, um you don't forget to take your goldenrod because it's it's you notice it immediately when you take it. Um and what it does so it stabilizes our mast cells, which are our cells that
produce histamine. And so it keeps them from producing histamine. So, um it just like soothes them so they don't want to do that. And so it's really great for like any kind of like like excess histamine reactions. So, like allergies.
Um so, especially like seasonal allergies or like pet allergies, any allergies that are showing up in like less like GI stuff, more like respiratory stuff. Um but yeah, like I used to live with a cat and like when people would come over I'd keep it in the kitchen and people would come over and just give them some goldenrod
tincture. Like if they like certain if their eyes watering, like that kind of thing. It's like super nice for. Um Yeah, and you really need it fresh for that. Like the dry doesn't quite work the same way. So, another reason to make a tincture. But like um like I was at a
family reunion a couple years ago and like there was like tons of goldenrod cuz it's like August and then like there was like leftover vodka from the family reunion and I was like, "Great." >> [laughter] >> And so I just like stuffed the whole like the like bottle of vodka full of full of goldenrod. Great. Um my aunt was like, "What are you doing?" [laughter] I
was like, "Don't worry about it." Um so, yeah, you don't need like a super high alcohol like content. Like you don't need definitely don't need everclear, but like yeah, vodka's great. Um and yeah, fresh is best. Um it's also like it's also like um antimicrobial, so
active against like yeah, bacteria, fungi, particularly. Maybe viruses, I don't know. Um and so I use it for like it also has an affinity for the ear like the urinary tract. So, like I use it for UTIs as well cuz it's like nice to like
stabilize that tissue too if it's like irritated. Um Yeah. Kind of drying. Yeah. So So raspberry, blackberry, they're all in the Rubus genus. So um
Yeah. And then this is um So look at this beautiful flower. So what do you notice about the flower? Does it tell you what family this plant's in? Um Strawberry. Yeah, same same family as strawberry. Yeah, we did it. >> That's what I was going to say. >> Yeah, yeah. So same family as
strawberry. So it's in the rose family actually. >> Oh. >> So the rose family, so strawberry I think also might be a Rubus. So I'm going to see if you even closer related. Um but the rose family is like apples are in the rose family, pears, peaches, plums. They're all in the rose family. Um
and so the rose family always has five petals. So that's like an indicative feature. And then it has what's called numerous stamens. Which in botanical terms numerous is means more than 10. Um So Uh yeah. So And if you look at this
doesn't it look like the bottom of an apple? Does like little stamens in there? You know how an apple like has its little stamens left? Yeah, so that's a key identifier. So that's for this um Oh yeah, so what is that mustard? >> pepper? No, that's not pepper. That's pepper. >> Um
It's in the mustard family. I don't know exactly what it is, but it's like a mustard. Um this plant I invite you not to eat or touch. Everyone know this plant? This is poison ivy. >> Mhm. >> Um so yeah, there's like like shiny little leaves, especially those like
red. But then there's also some green. It's kind of hard to It kind of just It it disguises itself, but uh always looks a little shiny and kind of looks like it doesn't want you to touch it. Poison ivy. >> And it when it climbs up stuff, it's got the hairy >> Mhm. >> vine. >> Yeah, totally.
Um one is this white flower here? Um Do you know who this flower is? You seen this before? It has these leaves, these like little They're deceptively carrot-looking, but they're not. Here, I'm going to Um, this is yarrow.
So, yarrow or yarrow, however you want to call it, I think of um first of many things. One is blood. So, yarrow both
stops blood and starts blood again. It does both. Um, and so if we um are bleeding too much like externally, yarrow can be uh internally too, like excess menstrual bleeding, yarrow is really great for like slowing down bleeding. Um, so if people [clears throat] are like
um yeah, like I'll I'll give it as like a tea or like or a tincture, however, like for like a week before someone's bleeding and then like for menstruation and then and then like during menstruation, um can be really helpful for like slowing down bleeding. And then I also work with it um
uh um Sorry. Um, like topically. So, if like say say say like say if you had like a bit like a bad wound and you wanted to stop bleeding, it can be really helpful for that. Um, and I have a colleague who's an herbalist who was like in the woods and like when herbalists are in
the woods, they like bring yarrow powder with them. >> [laughter] >> And she had yarrow powder with her and like put it on the um someone cut themselves really badly and she put the yarrow powder on the wound and like um they had to like hike out several miles. And they she like like packed the wound full of dry yarrow powder and they hiked to the ER. And
they got to the ER and then like the doctor was like like what did you like why did you put like stuff your wound full of like powdered plant? Like that's disgusting. And like and like of course and like really like to clean out and like like that like validly was like that's terrible. But then I like and why isn't
it bleeding? >> [laughter] >> And then he kept being like, "Why did you do this?" But like, "Why isn't it bleeding?" So I was like, "Yeah." So it really it really does work and also, yeah, time and a place for stopping your wound flow. It's like >> Would you rather Would you rather me continue to bleed >> Yeah, no, totally. >> I'd rather you clean it out.
>> Yeah, totally. >> [laughter] >> Um yeah, but if you don't have to do that, maybe don't do that. Yeah, but then you do. Um And then also for moving blood. So the way that this is, it opens up our um It opens up our uh
opens like a it like a it It's a vaso di- Thank you. Thank you. It's a it's a vasodilator. [laughter] Um so that our blood can flow more freely. Um so it's great for what I call trapped heat. So like if um like I had a client one time he said like, "My my
core is a burning furnace, but my hands are always cold." That's like yarrow. Um and it really works. It really like helps like release rest like release that um the like heat to the exterior. So it's also good for like fevers in that way. Um
yeah. It's a it's a nice antimicrobial. Um pretty This is powerful in that way. Um A nice topically also We talked about tick bites. Um or like there are some herbalists who like s- swear by like just using yarrow topically for tick bites. Um because it
helps draw out like heat. Um I'm thinking of like like a like a like Lyme's disease like a hot a hot infection. So just putting yarrow on topically helps draw out the heat. Um so yeah. >> All right, here's another plant we can look at.
>> Um This is um This is what? This is like the sta- the flower and the seed of this plant. Um this is plantain. And there's different kinds of plantain. There's like the um the like the broadleaf plantain, which
it use it grows in like very stepped-on [music] places. And there's like the the long leaf plantain. So, this is the long leaf plantain here. It's like a nice plantain. Long leaf. Here's the >> Oh, yeah. >> flower. Um you can weave with the
stems. They're really nice for weaving like really like small detail work like I like I I made a basket recently and like we did like the the very inside area with the with this plantain. Um but the long leaf or the the leaves are just like amazing.
Uh kind of like very similar to cleavers. They're not lymphatic in the same way. Um but they really help heal tissue. So, it's like topical healing. So, like I put plantain in people's tea all the time cuz like how many people do you know who like have inflamed gut linings? >> Mhm.
>> [laughter] >> It's really nice. And it what it does is it like sloshes around in there if you make tea and it gets in all the crevices and so it like really helps like heal the lining. Um yeah.